UCC/2020/09 - Development of an Operations and Maintenance Cost Calculation Tool

Descriptions

UCC wish to appoint a contractor to develop an Operations and Maintenance (O&M) Cost calculation software tool that will assist Tidal Energy Converter (TEC) and Wave Energy Converter (WEC) device developers to optimise the reliability of their constituent components and in tandem, rationalise their array-related O&M activity. The software tool will model the O&M activities associated with offshore farms consisting of arrays of these devices through specific inputs of relevant information to the tool. The reduction of risk in failures of underlying components of the energy converters through analysis within the tool will help lower the associated Operational Costs(OPEX) and increase the time the device is available for energy conversion.The results output from the model will provide valuable insight for the optimisation of these O&M activities by device developers. The demonstrable lowering of LCOE through increased reliability and availability of energy converters alongside streamlined O&M can help nurture increased investor confidence in both the wave and tidal Offshore Renewable Energy(ORE) sectors.