4Subsea has installed advanced, retrofit sensors on floating turbine Zefyros, previously known as Hywind Demo, to prove cost reduction potential with a Digital Twin.

The project aims to prove significant cost reduction potential in offshore wind by using a Digital Twin of the substructure to measure actual loads and fatigue on the turbine.

4Subsea has developed a new generation of sensors for structural integrity and performance monitoring of offshore wind turbines. The sensors have a proven track record from offshore oil and gas where they are used to monitor both vessel motions and the behavior of fixed platforms.

Different technology components from fish telemetry, micro drones, and telecom have been combined in order to make a solution dedicated for subsea assets in oil and gas and now for offshore wind turbines.

The sensor package combines a 6-axis IMU and 4 strain sensors for monitoring of wind turbine towers and substructures. Sensor data will be combined with weather information and other data sources. The interpretation of the data will be available on a digital service on Microsoft Azure.

The main goal of the project is to analyse the potential for reducing LCOE in the offshore wind industry.