Achi news desk-
Oil and gas have a long and storied history of delivering amazing projects on a scale and it is these lessons that future energy sources – wind, solar, hydrogen etc – must use in order to achieve net zero by 2050.
After a few buoyant years, the offshore wind energy sector is now having to cope with various trials and tribulations.
Some of these are the result of short-term shocks and changing market conditions, but others are part and parcel of a sector poised for exponential growth.
This is where the experiences of an established, adjacent sector can be invaluable.
The XAMIN Xodus platform – collaborative software that houses all our asset support solutions – was designed in partnership with our oil and gas clients to assist with their data and decision management.
It is the result of 18 years of solving Xodus problems and, by bringing a large amount of information under one roof, it is proven to optimize asset performance, manage efficiency and improve workflows.
As a proven solution, it is the perfect companion to help offshore wind, which remains a nascent industry despite its great progress, to quickly deal with its initial problems.
When developing XAMIN, we anticipated that many of the lessons learned from working in a highly regulated sector, particularly related to subsea and
topside integrity, are the same lessons that the offshore wind energy sector is currently facing.
This way of thinking inspired the development of XAMIN Permits, a solution built by experts, based on the results of traditional energy projects and informed by multiple disciplines.
As with oil and gas, the permitting of offshore wind energy is an extremely complex and time-consuming process involving a multitude of stakeholders.
It can be a scary proposition and it doesn’t set the pulses quite like the images of a wind farm being built, but it’s no less important and it’s a critical step that every developer made it.
Permissions need to be properly managed and implemented, otherwise the UK’s ambitious offshore wind targets will remain faint in the distance.
XAMIN Allow tracking and improvement of compliance management aspects of offshore wind developments.
It cuts out spreadsheets – which can become dense and confusing as projects progress – and creates a complete, online data dashboard that multiple users can access at once.
In doing so XAMIN Permits places less responsibility on individuals, while also creating a link between onshore and offshore personnel, empowering employees at all levels of business.
This connection between multiple endpoints is critical.
Wind farms are often dozens of miles from shore and will only get further, which means many more stakeholders are involved. Furthermore, and somewhat ironically, the sector currently has to jump through many more environmental hoops than established industries.
With more requirements comes more potential for legal action.
If this were to happen, then developers need to be able to show their work; a record of their activity to prove the full cycle of competence and compliance, both environmental and technical.
This is where XAMIN Licenses come into their own.
Central to our full suite of XAMIN products is allowing users to prove they have planned and assessed risk across the full development lifecycle.
XAMIN Permits collects and stores data from early site investigations, through construction and O&M, and ultimately to decommissioning, ensuring compliance with all permit and license conditions along the way.
During the operational phase of projects in particular, XAMIN Licenses act as a vehicle for improvement and productivity.
Legacy information is fed into the integrity system, allowing for more accurate and timely decision-making, meaning stakeholders can maximize the return on their investment.
‘Collaboration’ is a word that is often thrown around the energy industry, but by bridging gaps between teams, stakeholders and project phases, XAMIN Licenses can be the basis for turning talk into action.
The oil and gas sector has already felt the benefits of this and there is now an opportunity to bring best practice to the fore once again to help smooth the journey of offshore wind and, in turn, the energy transition.
www.xodusgroup.com
