Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis for Benchmarking Human-Free Lifting Solutions in the Offshore Wind Energy Environment

Mark Richmond, Toby Balaam, Paul Causon, Debora Cevasco, Mareike Leimeister, Athanasios Kolios and Feargal Brennan
Additional contact information
Mark Richmond: Offshore Energy Engineering Centre, Cranfield University, Bedfordshire MK43 0AL, UK
Toby Balaam: Department of Engineering Science, University of Oxford, Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3PJ, UK
Paul Causon: Offshore Energy Engineering Centre, Cranfield University, Bedfordshire MK43 0AL, UK
Debora Cevasco: Offshore Energy Engineering Centre, Cranfield University, Bedfordshire MK43 0AL, UK
Mareike Leimeister: Offshore Energy Engineering Centre, Cranfield University, Bedfordshire MK43 0AL, UK
Athanasios Kolios: Offshore Energy Engineering Centre, Cranfield University, Bedfordshire MK43 0AL, UK
Feargal Brennan: Offshore Energy Engineering Centre, Cranfield University, Bedfordshire MK43 0AL, UK

Energies, 2018, vol. 11, issue 5, 1-21

Abstract: With single components weighing up to hundreds of tonnes and lifted to heights of approximately 100 m, offshore wind turbines can pose risks to personnel, assets, and the environment during installation and maintenance interventions. Guidelines and standards for health and safety in lifting operations exist; however, having people directly beneath the load is still common practice in offshore wind turbine installations. Concepts for human-free offshore lifting operations in the categories of guidance and control, connections, and assembly are studied in this work. This paper documents the process of applying Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA), using experts’ opinions for the importance of defined criteria obtained by conducting an industry survey, to benchmark the suitability of the concepts at two stages. Stage one streamlined possible options and stage two ranked the remaining suite of options after further development. The survey results showed that criteria such as ‘reduction of risk’, ‘handling improvement’ and ‘reliability of operation’ were most important. The most viable options, weighted by industry opinion, to remove personnel from areas of high risk are: Boom Lock and tag lines, a camera system with mechanical guidance, and automated bolt installation/fastening for seafastening. The decision analysis framework developed can be applied to similar problems to inform choices subject to multiple criteria.

Keywords: multi-criteria decision making; Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS); offshore wind turbines; health & safety; offshore lifting operations (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/11/5/1175/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/11/5/1175/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jeners:v:11:y:2018:i:5:p:1175-:d:145022

Access Statistics for this article

Energies is currently edited by Ms. Agatha Cao

More articles in Energies from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().