Extended Operational and Trade Vocabulary

Offshore Wind O&M, CTVs and SOVs glossary (page 2)

The offshore-wind O&M vocabulary: walk-to-work service operation vessels (Acta Auriga, Acta Centaurus), accessibility as a sea-state metric, active heave compensation on gangways, and the technician-transfer and DP terms. Grounds each term in the O&M campaign or the named SOV/CTV it belongs to.

393 defined terms.

Showing 143 on this page (page 2 of 2).

N

NSO Norse Wind: Northern Offshore Services SOV supporting offshore wind operations on long term charter.

O

O&M agreement: Contract under which a service provider delivers operations and maintenance services to the wind farm owner.
O&M base: Onshore facility comprising offices, warehousing, and quayside infrastructure supporting offshore wind operations.
O&M port: Harbor designated as the operating base for a wind farm's CTV and SOV fleet and shore personnel.
Offshore induction: Site specific safety briefing required of all personnel before first attendance at a wind farm.
Offshore substation: Platform mounted electrical hub stepping up array cable voltage for export.
Oil sampling lab: Laboratory analyzing turbine gearbox and hydraulic oil samples for wear metals, water, and viscosity.
Olympic Bull: Olympic Shipping SOV supporting North Sea wind farm operations.
Olympic Shipping: Norwegian shipowner operating SOVs and offshore support tonnage chartered to wind clients.
Operations and Maintenance: Phase of the wind farm life cycle covering all activities after commissioning handover, also abbreviated O&M.
Optical fiber link: Communication path embedded in array and export cables carrying SCADA and protection signals.

P

Pacific Reliance: Subsea support vessel chartered into offshore wind operations for ROV inspection and intervention.
Padlock: Personal lock applied during a lockout tagout to ensure no isolation is removed before the technician is clear.
Park availability: Aggregated availability metric across all turbines in a wind farm.
Park capacity factor: Capacity factor calculated for the wind farm as a whole rather than an individual turbine.
Park control system: Supervisory controller dispatching set points and curtailment commands across all turbines in a wind farm.
Passive Heave Compensation: Gas-spring or counterweight heave compensation without active control.
Performance ratio: Ratio of actual to expected energy production given measured wind conditions, used in availability disputes.
Personal protective equipment: Helmets, harnesses, gloves, eyewear, and clothing issued to wind technicians.
Pilot Ladder: Ladder constructed to SOLAS V/23 standards.
Pitch system: Electromechanical or hydraulic system rotating turbine blades around their longitudinal axis to control aerodynamic loads.
Planned maintenance: See scheduled maintenance.
Port Captain: Shore-based marine operations role.
Port state control: PSC inspection regime.
Power curve: Manufacturer supplied function relating wind speed to electrical output for a given turbine.
Power performance test: Field measurement campaign verifying that a turbine meets its warranted power curve.
Predictive Maintenance: Sensor/analytics-driven maintenance scheduling.
Preventive maintenance: scheduled equipment service per OEM cycles.
Punch list: Outstanding items recorded at commissioning handover and worked off during the warranty period.

Q

Quay wall: Vertical retaining structure forming berth face, designed under BS 6349.
Quayside loading: Transfer of spare parts, tools, and consumables onto a CTV or SOV alongside at the O&M port.
Quayside power: shore power outlet on the apron.

R

Race Bank: UK offshore wind farm off Norfolk operated by Orsted.
Reactive power: Component of electrical power exchanged with the grid for voltage support, dispatched from offshore substation equipment.
Recurring fault: Repeated occurrence of the same fault type on multiple turbines, triggering fleet wide investigation.
Reliability metric: Quantitative indicator such as availability, MTBF, or capacity factor used to track wind farm performance.
Remote Monitoring: Service in which equipment vendors observe shipboard systems for performance and condition monitoring.
Remotely operated vehicle: Tethered subsea vehicle used for cable, foundation, and scour inspection at wind farms.
Repair campaign: Coordinated mobilization of vessels, crews, and parts to address a defined set of corrective interventions.
Risk assessment: Documented evaluation of hazards.
Root Cause Analysis: Investigation method to determine the underlying cause of an incident.
Rope access: IRATA qualified work at height technique used for blade and tower repair without scaffolding.
Roscoff: French port supporting O&M activities for wind farms off the coast of Brittany.
Rotor: Combined assembly of hub and blades on a wind turbine.
Rotor lock: Mechanical device immobilizing the rotor during major interventions in the nacelle.
Routine Inspection: Periodic inspection by crew, owner, or class.
Royal Dock: See Grimsby Royal Dock.

S

Safe access: SOLAS-required means of boarding the vessel.
Safety case: Documented argument that risks at a wind farm are reduced to as low as reasonably practicable.
Saipem: Italian offshore engineering contractor active in offshore wind, floating solar, hydrogen, and CCS projects with Equinor and others.
Salem: Massachusetts port developed as an O&M base for US East Coast offshore wind projects.
SCADA: Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition system for distributed industrial processes.
Scheduled maintenance: Time or run hour based interventions performed at fixed intervals regardless of condition.
Scour monitoring: Periodic survey of seabed conditions around monopile and jacket foundations to detect erosion.
Sea Fastening: Heavy welded structure securing project cargo for ocean voyage.
Sea State: Description of the wave field, characterized by significant wave height and period.
Sea Survival: GWO BST module covering personal survival techniques and life raft handling in offshore wind environments.
Seacat Services: Cowes based CTV operator on the Isle of Wight, providing crew transfer to UK and European wind farms.
Service Level Agreement: Contract clause defining performance and availability commitments.
Service Operation Vessel: Mid sized DP vessel supporting offshore wind technicians with walk to work gangways and onboard accommodation.
Service technician: Wind technician employed by the OEM or independent contractor performing on turbine maintenance.
Shore power: OPS or cold ironing infrastructure, IEC/IEEE 80005 series.
Siemens Gamesa Service: Service business of Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy providing maintenance to its installed offshore fleet.
Significant wave height: Average of the highest one third of waves in a given period, the standard parameter governing CTV transfer limits.
Single line diagram: Schematic representation of the offshore wind electrical system.
Slinger Signaller: GWO module qualifying personnel to attach loads and direct cranes during lifting operations.
SMST: Dutch supplier of motion compensated gangways, cranes, and offshore handling equipment used on SOVs and CSOVs.
Solent Towage CTV: Solent based CTV unit supporting south coast wind operations.
SOV: Service operation vessel for offshore wind; DP2, walk-to-work, ~60 m+.
SOV operator: Shipowner providing SOV tonnage on time or bareboat charter to offshore wind clients.
Spares warehousing: Onshore storage of turbine and balance of plant spare parts at the O&M base.
Sparrows Point: Maryland port developing O&M and staging infrastructure for US Mid Atlantic offshore wind.
Stand by: Be ready to act.
Station keeping: DP function maintaining vessel position and heading within defined tolerances.
Stinger: Curved overboard ramp on S-lay pipelay vessels.
Stril Server: Subsea support vessel of Simon Mokster Shipping with capacity for offshore wind work.
Subocean: Subsea cable installation and maintenance contractor active in offshore wind array and export cable work.
Subsea7: International subsea contractor whose vessels and ROVs support offshore wind cable repair and inspection.
Substation maintenance: Scheduled and corrective work on transformers, switchgear, and auxiliaries on the offshore substation.
Supervisory control: Combined SCADA and operations center function dispatching set points and acknowledging alarms.
Switching program: Documented sequence of electrical isolations and re energizations carried out by authorized persons.

T

Technician transfer: Movement of personnel from a CTV or SOV onto a turbine boat landing or via gangway.
Telescoping gangway: Motion compensated walkway whose length adjusts as the vessel moves relative to the turbine.
Tensioner: Hydraulic system applying tension to drilling riser or pipe.
Thermal imaging: See infrared thermography.
Tidal Transit: UK CTV operator headquartered in Wells next the Sea providing crew transfer to southern North Sea wind farms.
Tidal window: Operational window based on tide for deep draft vessels.
Time Charter: Charter for a defined period at hire per day.
Torque wrench: Calibrated tool used to verify bolt preload on foundation, tower, and drivetrain joints.
Total productive maintenance: Reliability philosophy emphasizing involvement of operators in maintenance and continuous improvement.
Tower bolt: High strength bolt joining tower flanges, periodically retorqued and inspected.
Tower internal lift: Service elevator inside the turbine tower used by technicians and small cargo.
Trailing suction hopper: Dredger type sometimes deployed for cable burial or remedial works at wind farms.
Transformer: Power transformer in the turbine base or offshore substation, a recurring fault category subject to oil analysis and electrical testing.
Transit time: Period required for a CTV or SOV to travel between O&M port and wind farm.
Trip report: Voyage record documenting weather, transfers, faults, and findings during an O&M sortie.
Tug Master: Skilled professional master of a tug.
Turbine availability: Reliability metric for a single turbine, expressed on a time or energy basis.
Turbine commissioning: Sequence of tests and adjustments bringing a newly installed turbine into full grid service.
Two way radio: Marine VHF used for communication between vessels, the wind farm control room, and shore.

U

Unscheduled maintenance: Corrective interventions triggered by faults or alarms outside the planned maintenance program.
Uptime: Norwegian supplier of motion compensated gangways and offshore access equipment for SOVs and CSOVs.
Uptime gangway: Motion compensated walkway product family from Uptime used on Bibby WaveMaster and other SOVs.

V

Vessel master: Captain of a CTV or SOV, responsible for safe navigation, transfers, and crew welfare.
Vessel sharing: Arrangement in which several wind farm owners share an SOV charter to spread cost.
Vestas Service: Service business of Vestas Wind Systems providing FSA, AOM, and BOA contracts to its installed offshore fleet.
Vibration monitoring: Continuous measurement of drivetrain vibration to detect bearing or gear degradation.
Visual inspection: Quick check of fuel sample for color, water, and visible solids before lab testing.
Vlissingen: Dutch port that hosts Damen Yachting and Amels.
Voyage Plan: Required under SOLAS V/34.
Vroon: Dutch shipowner operating offshore support tonnage including units chartered to wind farms.

W

W2W: Walk to work, the practice of using a motion compensated gangway to transfer technicians and cargo between an SOV and a turbine.
Walk to work vessel: SOV or CSOV equipped with a motion compensated gangway enabling personnel and cargo transfer to turbines.
Walk-to-work: Motion compensated gangway system on SOVs enabling crew transfer in higher sea states.
Warranty period: Post-delivery period during which the yard remedies defects, typically twelve months.
Watch keeping: Continuous monitoring of bridge or engine room functions by qualified officers and engineers.
Wave height: Vertical distance between crest and preceding trough.
WaveMaster 1: See Bibby WaveMaster 1.
WaveMaster Horizon: See Bibby WaveMaster Horizon.
Weather downtime: Period during which adverse weather prevents access to turbines, contributing to lost production.
Weather routing: Optimum-track routing per environmental forecasts.
Weather window: Period of suitable weather for an operation.
Wight Light: Wightlink built fast catamaran adopted into CTV service for wind farm support.
Wight Sun: Wightlink built fast catamaran adopted into CTV service for wind farm support.
Wind farm operator: Owner or appointed entity responsible for operating and maintaining the wind farm assets.
Wind farm zone: Designated marine area within which wind farm projects are developed.
Wind of Change: Vestas chartered SOV operated by Esvagt supporting offshore wind service in northern Europe.
Wind of Hope: Vestas chartered SOV operated by Esvagt supporting offshore wind service in northern Europe.
Wind sector management: Operating strategy curtailing turbines from selected directions to manage wake or noise.
Wind technician: Skilled mechanical or electrical worker qualified under GWO and OEM standards to maintain wind turbines.
Wind turbine maintenance contractor: Company performing scheduled and corrective maintenance on wind turbines under contract to the owner.
Windcat: Den Helder based CTV operator, part of the CMB.TECH group, also delivering hydrogen fueled vessels to the wind sector.
Windcat Workboats: See Windcat.
Windea Jules Verne: Windea Offshore SOV operating on long term charter to North Sea wind projects.
Windea La Cour: Windea Offshore SOV named after the Danish wind pioneer Poul la Cour, supporting MHI Vestas service.
Windea Leibniz: Windea Offshore SOV operating on long term charter in the German Bight.
Workboat: Generic term for small commercial vessels including CTVs, multicats, and survey craft.
Working at Heights: GWO BST module qualifying technicians to use harnesses and fall arrest systems on turbines.
Workshop container: Tool and parts container deployed to wind farms aboard SOVs to support repair campaigns.

Y

Yaw bearing: Large slewing ring rotating the nacelle relative to the tower to align with wind direction.
Yaw drive: Geared electrical drive rotating the nacelle on the yaw bearing.
Yaw motor: Individual electric motor in the yaw drive assembly, a recurring fault category requiring replacement during O&M visits.
Year end report: Annual document summarizing production, availability, faults, and findings for the wind farm owner.