40-Year Maintenance Free Coating Solution for Offshore Structures

Abstract Offshore assets such as those found on wind farms are being designed to have extended lifetimes of more than 40 years to offer a sustainable form of energy generation. With offshore maintenance considered a hazardous and expensive process, owners are looking for low or maintenance free solutions to protect their assets. The challenge to the coating manufacturer is twofold, firstly to design a coating system that offers a maintenance free solution in a highly corrosive environment and secondly demonstrating long term performance. This paper will describe a 40-year case history of a coating system applied to the hull of a offshore TLP with submerged, splash/tidal, and atmospheric zone. We will describe both the technology approach using high loadings of lamellar glass flake to enhance both abrasion and mechanical properties and secondly demonstrate the in-service properties of the coating system after 40 years exposure including visual appearance, adhesion, cross sectional optical microscopy and electrical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). The coating integrity has been well maintained by a multiple coating application. We will discuss the key product attributes that are relevant to providing a high durability coating solution for extreme environments. We will also introduce a new international standard related to the offshore wind industry with particular focus on extending asset lifetime through appropriate coating specification and selection.