CAN DO

Project Overview

The project brings together CGEN’s generator design and operational experience with manufacturing input from Fountain Design Ltd and independent techno-economic and lifecycle assessment from WavEC.

The work is assessing how CGEN’s modular generator architecture can be standardised across different turbine ratings, manufactured at increasing production volumes and maintained through the removal and replacement of individual generator modules rather than major generator replacement.

The project considers ageing fixed-bottom offshore wind turbines, life extension and repowering opportunities, and future floating wind systems. It also examines manufacturing, offshore logistics, module handling and replacement, refurbishment, circularity and the potential impact on turbine downtime and lifecycle cost.

Objectives

• Define a standard modular generator platform that can be applied across a range of wind turbine ratings and operating speeds.
• Assess how modular manufacture can reduce production complexity and support future UK manufacturing scale-up.
• Develop practical approaches for module removal, replacement, refurbishment and return to service.
• Assess opportunities to reduce offshore intervention requirements, vessel dependency and generator-related downtime.
• Evaluate the commercial potential of modular generators for offshore wind life extension and future floating wind applications.
• Use independent techno-economic modelling to assess the impact of production scale, maintenance, life extension and circularity on lifecycle cost.
• Define the technical, manufacturing and commercial steps required to progress towards full-scale field demonstration.

Why It Matters

As offshore wind turbines become larger and the existing fleet ages, generator maintenance, component obsolescence and life extension are becoming increasingly important considerations for turbine owners and operators.

Conventional major generator interventions can require specialist vessels, heavy lifting equipment and extended periods of downtime. CGEN’s modular approach is designed around smaller, replaceable generator modules that can be manufactured, transported, serviced and refurbished independently.

The project is helping CGEN define how this approach can be applied across offshore wind applications and establish the manufacturing, maintenance and commercial pathway towards future field demonstration and deployment.

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