About me

 The upcoming energy transition introduced an increased number of offshore wind farm projects. The corrosion protection of the foundations (monopiles) of the wind turbines is based on coating systems and cathodic protection. 

For an Offshore Wind project in the Dutch part of the North Sea the corrosion protection strategy was based on experiences and specification used in the offshore oil&gas industry. The corrosion design specifications were prepared according the Shell specifications and a 25-years maintenance free period for the paint systems was included. This led to a thoroughly paint selection, surface preparation and paint application process with a high demand on the quality assurance and control executions. The work was executed at several construction sites in Europe and coating inspection was performed by qualified inspectors. My role was to evaluate the overall technical acceptance of the steel structures and visit the application shops for surveillance.  

 For a pipeline project in the north of the Netherlands, I was involved in the design, specification, application, installation and final acceptance of the line pipe coating. The line pipe coating (3-layer Polypropylene and 3-layer Polyethylene) was specified according the end user guidelines and in compliance with the 

ISO-21809-specifications. The line pipe coating was applied at a coating mill facility in China, the process was kicked off with qualification trials and vender approval testing. The construction of the pipeline was executed by the construction contractor and I approved and evaluated the field joint coating application and qualified the applicators in the field. There was an additional construction factor involved, parts of the pipeline were installed by using the Horizontal Directional Drilling method. This meant an increased risk for the long-term performance of the applied coating system. The final acceptance of the coating involved holiday testing of 100 % of the line pipe coating system. 

 New developments within the coating industry have been implemented into new build projects and for maintenance purposes. This can dramatically reduce the overall costs  during construction and maintenance.

There is a development to use surface tolerant coating systems because during coating maintenance and repair the use of abrasive grit blasting as surface preparation method is not always possible. Subsequently, the slected coating system should be applicable to less prepared steel surfaces. 

The use of fast curing one-coat systems provides a cost saving factor due to less application time and curing periods. 

 For new build, the Thermal Spray Aluminium (TSA) coating system have been applied for several projects. It will decrease the lifecycle costs of the  project due to the maintenance free properites of the TSA coating.  Particularly, application under insulation coatings where Corrosion Under Insulation (CUI) can be a well-known treat, TSA has a proven track record.

 Needless to mention that this new development should be monitored and supervised by certified coating engineers and inspectors.