Acteon awarded structural monitoring and digital twin O&M work for Kincardine Offshore Wind Farm floating turbines

Acteon, a marine energy and infrastructure services company, has been awarded operations and maintenance (O&M) work comprising integrated structural health and motion monitoring, and a structural response digital twin for the Kincardine Offshore Wind Farm. The scope of work covers the wind farm’s floating turbines, located 15 km off the coast of Aberdeen, Scotland. The work started in spring 2024 for Grupo Cobra, which operates the 50-MW wind farm for Kincardine Offshore Windfarm Limited (KOWL), whose majority shareholder is DRAGADOS S.A. 

UTEC*, Acteon’s Geo-services business line specialising in structural monitoring, is spearheading the design, supply, and installation of cutting-edge structural health and motion monitoring systems for the floating wind turbines. The systems will include six-degree-of-freedom motion monitoring and position and heading sensors on the platforms, additional load strain gauges and data-connectivity infrastructure. 

In parallel, 2H, Acteon’s Engineering consultancy, is developing and implementing a structural response digital twin based on machine-learning techniques. As a solution that is seamlessly integrated with the monitoring systems, this digital twin will provide unparalleled insight into the asset response during operations, give an early indication of possible anomalies, and help optimise future inspection and survey activities. The operational data will also be an invaluable tool to enable asset life extension. 

Over the course of the 18-month work, Acteon will collaborate closely with Grupo Cobra to advance digital twin technology and the project is part-funded by Red.es (Grant ID: 2021/C005/00149745), through the Spanish Recovery and Resilience Plan, funded by the European Union (Next Generation EU). 

Kincardine Offshore Wind Farm, featuring five V164-9.5 MW turbines mounted on Principle Power WindFloat platforms, is one of the world’s largest operating floating wind farms. Positioned in water depths ranging from 60–80 metres, these turbines have been successfully generating clean energy since October 2021.

*Originally contracted through Pulse Structural Monitoring