Analysis and improvement of risk assessment methodology for offshore energy installations : Aspects of environmental impact assessment and as-built subsea cable verification

Abstract: In the expansion of offshore sustainable energy systems, there is growing pressure on the environment and permit processes and a considerably higher total risk of accidents of future assets. Improving the situation for projects at the design stage and improving verification (estimating the risk of assets) is going to increase energy development and reduce costs. This thesis explores offshore DTS (Decision Support Tools) and risk verification of subsea cable assets. For subsea cables, a statistical method is proposed utilizing measurement data together with shipping traffic data(AIS) to estimate the risk of installed cable assets. This may solve issues of improving confidence using more data and surveys and utilizing mechanical and sensor-specific characteristics to improve the confidence and burial estimation, contrary to today's methodology. The implication of the two studies of cable burial risk assessment techniques and verification shows how a developed methodology may solve issues for verifying the integrity of an installed asset. Putting our methodology into practice will involve many challenges. For the offshore Decision Support Tool (DTS) and sustainable energy development, estimate potential savings if permit processes would be faster and less burden without degrading the quality of the EIA (Environmental Impact Assessment), and a method to model various scenarios of 'effective' savings from the development of a DTS to reduce costs spent on EIA permitting by developers. The implication of the EIA DTS study shows a quantifiable estimate of the savings potential for permit processes for sustainable offshore development, and results indicate a need for optimization of DST development to be an essential factor in its implementation and success.