Installation cost and risk is a major factor in the long term viability of offshore marine projects particularly Round 3 Wind and Tidal Energy arrays. Cost reduction is necessary for these technologies to evolve. Unfortunately, cost reduction often involves increased risk – which can be very difficult to evaluate- lessons are nearly always learned the hard way with cost overruns, poor project/ contract management and weak installation strategies. This has led to the development of a powerful new planning software tool called Mermaid (acronym for Marine Economic Risk Management Aid).
Mermaid has been created through years of hard earned operational experience and combines sound offshore installation practice with advanced statistical analysis techniques. Mermaid is a validated software tool for the analysis of weather risk on offshore operations in the demanding environments experienced at marine energy sites, such as Round 3 wind farms and the Pentland Firth tidal developments. Mermaid already has a proven track record of successful utilization, having been deployed on a number of projects for high profile clients in the offshore wind, wave and the emerging tidal sector. The analysis of installation and O&M operations has assisted in design and financial decision making and the tool can be used for planning and evaluating offshore operations in any sector- renewables, offshore oil and gas, civils etc.
Mermaid considers all phases of an operation, including on and offshore work, vessel transit, mooring, dynamic positioning and jacking operations and the response to storm events. Mermaid is geo-spatially aware and utilizes multiple working locations, Metocean data sets and transit routes to consider diverse operations such as array installation. By analyzing work with multiple vessels, simultaneous operations and detailed operational tasks Mermaid models operations in a realistic manner. By considering multiple options, such as installation methods, device or foundation types or alternative vessels and ports, Mermaid can be used to select the most appropriate options for offshore work. This process leads to efficient project optimization, cost reduction and provides a robust engineering baseline to start prior to engaging expensive offshore assets.
This tool is very useful for evaluating risk and leading to a collaborative contractual negotiation where risks are reduced through robust engineering evaluation as opposed to contractual apportionment. The Mojo Mermaid team is well advanced in developing Mermaid Live- which allows live tracking of projects using combined live Metocean and forecast data along with continually updated learning processes.
Mojo Maritime’s Managing Director, Richard Parkinson, said “We are starting to feel real benefits of using Mermaid- this tool allows us to clearly demonstrate and justify decisions to our client using very thorough installation models- we can run multiple scenarios rapidly. it has been particularly effective in developing tidal arrays and evaluating new techniques for offshore wind”.
