Statistical forecasting for offshore wind helicopter operations

The influence of the wind and wave climate on offshore wind operations and maintenance is well known. These environmental factors dictate to a large extent whether turbine crew transfer (carried out by small vessels) or major lifting actions (carried out by large vessels) can be executed at sea. However the role of helicopter operations has received much less attention. In this paper the authors explore the helicopter access problem via statistical forecasting and implement a model innovation, by including cloud base as a key access metric. By understanding the practical limits of helicopter operation, offshore wind access calculations will be much improved and reflect more closely the reality of operations at sea.