Over 1500 offshore structures inspected !!!
With the completion of the Gemini Offshore Windfarm, SCICON's coating inspectors have inspected over 1100 Offshore Wind Energy related structures !!
From Metering-Masts over traditional Monopile/Transition Piece foundations, more complex Jacket- or Tripod foundations to complete High Voltage Sub-Stations (OHVS-topsides) - smaller projects of a couple of towers to full-blown mega-projects including basically everything that gets painted (steel structures, equipment, etc...)
One of the world's largest offshore wind farms, Gemini Offshore Windfarm (150 foundations + 2 Jacket-foundations + 2 OHVS-Topsides - see www.geminiwindpark.nl) has completed its fabrication phase, during which our coating inspectors have exceeded the inspection of 1100+ Offshore Wind Energy related structures, unprecedented in the world of coating-inspection!
In the 15+ years that SCICON worldwide coating inspectors have been active in the Offshore Wind Energy industry, we have inspected a large variety of projects and structures and provide various specialized services such as:
- Inspection of new-build foundations (MPs, TPs, Jackets, Tripods, ...), Turbine Towers, and Topsides, ...
- Drafting, reviewing & screening of Technical Specifications, (sub)contractor procedures, ITPS, etc...
- Offshore inspections during and after installation works (with the aim of reducing expensive offshore coating touch-up activities)
- Offshore Damage Assessment missions (it doesn't take large failing surfaces to require exploding repair costs offshore)
- ...
On some projects, only 1 coating inspector would perform spot-check inspections at one or more (sub)contractor(s). However, with the growing experience that 'non-quality' is paid in 'hard cash' offshore, lately, SCICON is becoming more and more involved in the preparation, execution, and quality supervision of such mega-projects.
In that respect, in the last couple of years, we have supplied complete QC (Quality Control) teams for 2 projects where up to 4 full-time certified coating inspectors handled all QC work for the main contractor and his sub-contractors. And in the 2 most recent projects we performed full QA (Quality Assurance) activities with anywhere from 2 to 5 full-time coating inspectors during which sites in Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Croatia, Slovenia & Turkey were supervised.
All of this has given us a wealth of knowledge and experience from which you and your potential future windfarm-projects could also benefit. Even small ideas or concepts have proven to be able to make a couple of 100.000 € difference worth offshore (or vice versa if not paid enough attention to during the new-build stage).
So, don't be 'penny-wise & pound-foolish' and invest in high-level quality supervision during the new-build phase; any non-quality filtered out at that point pays for itself in a multitude once the structures have been installed offshore. With offshore structures, you really have 1 chance of doing it right! That's during the new-build phase. Anything that needs to be done or corrected after that, offshore, will never be as good as the original, and experience has learned that offshore corrections will easily cost a factor of 10 to 50 times the value it would have required during the new-build phase!
Also, read our article "Minimising the high potential costs of offshore coating-failures and repairs" as published in the March 2016 edition of the Wind Energy Network magazine.
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