The LIFIL (Load Reduction Device Integration Feasibility In Llyr) project delivers the commercial and technical feasibility for a novel mooring innovation for the Llyr Project, utilising the Load Reduction Device (LRD), which potentially significantly reduces cost and risk for offshore platforms.

The LRD is a subsea mooring component which controls and significantly reduces the forces acting on the platform, mooring line and anchor. The Dublin Offshore LRD design works to optimise mooring response stiffness by passively rotating with wave loading and delivering accurate and reliable control of the FOW platform station keeping. This enables cost reduction through cheaper mooring lines, smaller anchors, lighter platforms, reduced risks of system failure and increased WTG uptime. The impact of the LRD on the project requires careful consideration as the unit impacts the design, installation, financing, insurance, and operation of the farm.

This desk-based feasibility study will integrate the Load Reduction Device (LRD) within the mooring systems of the Llyr 1 and 2 floating offshore wind sites in the Celtic Sea using existing site data. By building a project delivery team including the technology developer, key technical and insurance stakeholders from the FOW market, and with the end user and customer as project lead, this collaborative feasibility study will quantify the validated impact of integrating this technology innovation for the sites.

The feasibility project scope delivers the outcomes below, which are critical to enabling future procurement of the technology:

-Project specific design of the LRD, considering the preferred FOW platforms and unique site conditions. This allows accurate specification of the component and engagement with local fabricators for pricing within the UK supply chain.

-Project specific cost impact validation, including Levelized Cost of Energy, CAPEX and OPEX

-Project specific risk assessment of installation and operational impacts.

-Impact on insurability and risk premiums of integration of a new technology for the Llyr Project

This feasibility study is the next step on the path to commercialisation for Dublin Offshores' LRD design. The innovation has the potential to enable FOW mooring system to be procured almost entirely from UK suppliers, creating up to 6,000 UK jobs by 2050 and enabling FOW cost reduction to support Net Zero targets.