The Fujian Huadian Fuqing Haitan Strait Offshore Wind Farm will spread over 35 square kilometers near China’s Fujian province. When complete, its 46 wind turbines will generate a combined 300 megawatts. The facility will be relatively close to shore, where water levels vary greatly between high and low tides. As a result, conventional pile-driving turbine installation vessels with deep drafts could not be used for construction. Designer Huadian Heavy Industries needed to know how to safely deploy a construction vessel, despite varying sea levels.

Huadian Heavy Industries decided that MOSES was the optimum application to build a hydrodynamic model of the vessel and then perform hydrodynamic simulations. Their simulations calculated wave forces on the vessel during high tide, as well as load forces on the vessel when installing turbines while on the sea floor during low tide. The analysis helped them determine the best method for safely installing turbines while the vessel is sitting on the sea floor, which also improved the efficiency of construction.