Guide for Certification of Floating Offshore Wind Turbine Installations
SECTION 1 – GENERAL PRINCIPLES
2
At the completion of the service, a final certification
document is issued, which, according to the scope of
work agreed upon the Parties (i.e. the installations
Owner and RINA), may be referred as Certificate of
Conformity, Test Certificate, Certificate of Compliance,
etc.
The final Certificate is to address the following basic
contents:
- Installations owner or contractor’s name;
- Item(s) subject of certification;
- Applicable regulation, standards and specification;
- Certification tasks performed;
- List of examined project documents, tests
performed, where applicable, traceability
information, enclosures etc.,
in addition to other statements and information relevant
to the outcomes of the certification activities deemed
necessary by RINA or specifically required by the
owner, and agreed by the interested Parties, on a case-
by-case basis.
2.2 Certification tasks for a floating offshore
wind turbine installation
The term “Certification” is used as covering one or
more of the following tasks relevant to the realization of
a new floating offshore wind turbine installation:
- Certification of the project,
where a specific appraisal activity is performed by
RINA on the design documentation relevant to the
project of a floating offshore wind turbine
installation, in order to verify and possibly certify the
compliance of that design with this Guide and/or
other design standards and project requirements, if
applicable;
- Construction survey,
where long term survey services, involving RINA
personnel mobilized to construction sites, are
carried out to verify and ensure that the fabrication
of the offshore units, or components thereof, is
compliant with the approved design documents and
applicable specifications for construction; long term
survey means that the required RINA supervision of
the different items relevant to the units construction
is to be performed by field surveyor(s) on the basis
of a Quality Control Plan, see [1.2.5], agreed
between the parties and covering the critical stages
of the fabrication process.
- Vendor Inspection, expediting and auditing
services,
where short term activities, involving RINA
personnel mobilized to supplier or vendor premises,
are carried out to verify and ensure the compliance
of materials, components and equipment with the
technical requirements of the project.
- Certification of the marine operations and/or Marine
Warranty Survey services,
where the purpose of RINA is to ensure that the
operations relevant to mobilization of the
construction yard, sea transportation and final
offshore installation of the platform are carried out
in compliance with applicable project documents
and approved installation specifications and
manual.
The marine operations that can be subject of
certification are specifically addressed in Section 14
of this Guide.
The verification activities required for the
certification are to be carried out through:
• Examination and approval of project
documentation (drawings, specifications,
manuals, etc.);
• Visits to be performed before the operation;
• Attendance during its development.
The certification is formalized through the release,
in the different phases of development of the project
operation, of documents’ approval, inspection
reports, statements of compliance and/or final
certificates, as required for stating that the design,
the planning and the execution of the complete
offshore units installation or a single phase thereof,
has been carried out in accordance with the
applicable requirements and approved procedures.
Typical examples of Certificates released during the
different phases of the installation of an offshore
wind farm are:
• Loadout Operation Approval Certificate,
• Seafastening Operation Approval Certificate;
• Transportation/ Towage Operation Approval
Certificate
• Structure Installation Approval Certificate.
Specific certification activities may be also carried out
for existing installations, as required by the owner for
applicable tasks, as well as for renewal, removal, reuse
or life extension of the floating support structures, when
needed.
2.3 Documentation for Certification
Depending on the scope of work specifically required
for the certification, the document subject to RINA
appraisal are to be agreed with the wind farm’s owner
and clearly identified preliminary to the activities.
All the drawings or project documents describing the
installation or equipment in its essential aspects, with
respect to the certification scope of work, are to be
provided and approved for those aspects of the
drawings/documents concerning the final compliance
with the applicable reference standards and safety
targets.
2.4 Construction dossier
A construction dossier is to be made covering all the
aspects of the installation construction in order to
collect relevant information to be eventually the main
reference for the certification of the fabrication.