Think of the offshore wind farm project as a huge puzzle. It’s so big that it’s tough for just one company to put it all together. That’s why the project owner will probably split it into smaller pieces, called ‘packages,’ and manage them separately. Making sure all these pieces fit together perfectly is super important.
Now, before any construction starts, there’s a tricky part called the ‘responsibility matrix.’ It’s like a game plan that shows who does what. We’re going to take a closer look at the usual packages and the tools needed to make this game plan for our wind farm project. See below for the overall visualities of the different packages (Photo source: Internet).
Let’s briefly describe the package below:
Wind Turbine Group (WTG): This team takes care of everything about the wind turbines, from designing, supply and testing and making sure they work (the installation might be handle by other package for example T&I, see below).
Offshore Substation: If we need a substation in the sea to level up the voltage for transferring longer distance, there’s a team for that too. They design it, build it, and make sure it has a strong foundation, good equipment in place.
WTG Foundations: A specialized team with big factories makes the huge steel bases for the wind turbines, like jackets and monopiles, and ships them out.
Subsea Cables: Only a few companies make the underwater cables we need, so they’re on it.
Onshore Substation and Lines: A local team designs the power station on land and connects it to the power grid, following all the local rules.
Transport & Installation (T&I) and Balance of Plant (BOP): This crew gets all the big parts from the other teams and uses massive ships to put everything in place.
Employer or we call project Boss: The company that owns the wind farm watches over everything to make sure all the teams work together smoothly.
To avoid any mix-ups about who does what, we use a RACI matrix. It’s like a chart that helps everyone understand their job, whether they’re Responsible (R), Accountable (A), Support (S), Consult (C), Inform (I), Validate (V).
We also break down the work into categories like design, supply, loading & transport, installation, and testing. It’s super important that everyone knows their role to plan the project well.