Online Decision Support for Offshore Wind Farm Installations

Inhaltsverzeichnis

1. Frontmatter

2. Chapter 1. Introduction

   Daniel Rippel

   Abstract

   This chapter briefly introduces this thesis by summarizing its motivation, goals, and research questions. While these parts mainly constitute summaries of later chapters’ results, this introduction also presents the overall research methodology, the structure of this thesis, and a list and discussion of previously published research that directly ties into this thesis.

3. Chapter 2. Process Description and Requirements

   Daniel Rippel

   Abstract

   This chapter introduces the general process for the installation of OWFs. Section 2.1 presents general trends and developments within the wind energy sector. These trends show a steady, worldwide increase in the production of renewable energy and, in particular, in offshore wind energy, resulting in an increasing share of renewable energy in worldwide energy production.

4. Chapter 3. Methodological Basics

   Daniel Rippel

   Abstract

   As noted in the last chapter’s conclusion, this thesis applies methods from the areas of control theory and scheduling, particularly MPC and MILP, to propose a methodology that can act as DSS for the installation of offshore wind farms. Consequently, the following sections provide a short introduction to these topics to justify selecting these particular methods. Section 3.1 first introduces different types of DSS and discusses their characteristics.

5. Chapter 4. State of the Art

   Daniel Rippel

   Abstract

   Following the introduction of various methods and techniques in the last chapter, this section presents the results of several literature reviews on the methodological background and state of the art in the application domain. These reviews aim to identify other approaches in the literature that either apply a similar methodological mix or focus on the same area of application. The results show that no applications could be identified in the literature that satisfy the functional requirements defined in Sect. 2.4.

6. Chapter 5. Design of the Decision Support System

   Daniel Rippel

   Abstract

   Following the description in Sect. 2.3, the planning of offshore wind farms comprises several stages, ranging from strategic tasks, like the network and capacity planning, down to operative tasks, like the scheduling of vessels and operations. While this thesis focuses on providing a DSS for decision support on the operative level, it also evaluates if, and under which assumptions, the underlying methodology supports higher-level tasks as well. Planning tasks on different levels rely on each other, either by requiring estimations from lower-level tasks or by providing constraints for theses.

7. Chapter 6. Prototypical Implementation

   Daniel Rippel

   Abstract

   This chapter shortly presents the main aspects of the DSS’s implementation used for this thesis. Therefore, it first presents relevant aspects of the implementation of the underlying methodology itself in Sect. 6.1. These aspects mainly cover different settings and modes for the optimizer.

8. Chapter 7. Experimental Setup and Base-Scenario

   Daniel Rippel

   Abstract

   This chapter describes the experimental setup used to evaluate the proposed DSS, the underlying methodology, and its components. It first presents the base-scenario used throughout the evaluation in Sect. 7.1. This base-scenario follows a realistic use-case described in the literature and extends it with additional openly available information.

9. Chapter 8. Experimental Results

   Daniel Rippel

   Abstract

   This chapter presents the results of various experiments regarding the three areas stated in the previous chapter.

10. Chapter 9. Conclusion

    Daniel Rippel

    Abstract

    This chapter summarizes and discusses the proposed DSS and its underlying MPC-based methodology. Therefore, it reflects the last chapter’s results regarding the imposed requirements in Sect. 9.1. Afterward, it presents a discussion of the research questions in Sect. 9.2 before it closes with a discussion of possible future work and open questions in Sect. 9.3.

11. Backmatter