GEOSEA
GEOSEA
On the Crest of a Renewable Wave PRODUCTION: Timothy Reeder
Dredging, Environmental and Marine Engineering NV (DEME) is an international group of specialised companies and GeoSea is its specialist in complex offshore marine engineering projects. GeoSea offers a wide variety of services to owners of offshore assets, marine consultants and marine contractors in the sectors of offshore Oil & Gas, Renewable Energy and Civil Engineering. “GeoSea has grown to be a reliable and recognised services provider for the majority of European utility companies in the field of green energy development,” the company begins. www.emea-energy.net / 3
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“GeoSea offers first-class global offshore contracting solutions to clients, and has the skills, the technology, and the equipment to perform in the most challenging marine environment.” This is the claim of Belgian dredging, marine engineering and environmental group DEME’s complex offshore marine engineering specialist, and the list of services it is placed to provide more than backs it up. Whether hammering and drilling large diameter piles for offshore constructions such as jetties, mooring facilities, bridges, wind farms, or installing offshore structures, offshore wind farms and platforms and even performing geotechnical investigations at large depths, GeoSea can embrace and deliver on the challenge.
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EVER-EXPANDING What is more, GeoSea is always expanding its fleet, capabilities and specialisms, and looking to take on bigger tests. Within its joint company High Wind, where it partners with Sarens, G&G International, SBE and PMV, GeoSea is developing an installation tool to set up offshore wind turbines under high wind conditions, which would prove insurmountable for most other operators. It has already been responsible for, “the most important innovation in wind turbine installation in years,” the Boom Lock© which permits the safe installation of all wind turbine components in winds of up to 15 m/s. This drastically increases safety and allows double digit cost reduction across installation vessels, installation crews and related costs, as well as increased income due to early
// GEOSEA HAS GROWN TO BE A RELIABLE AND RECOGNISED SERVICES PROVIDER FOR THE MAJORITY OF EUROPEAN UTILITY COMPANIES IN THE FIELD OF GREEN ENERGY DEVELOPMENT // completion of the wind farms. “We are very proud to have completed such a challenging development with many parties involved and many interfaces in such a short period,” commented Johan
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// MARITIME-RELATED CHALLENGES ARE DOMAINS WHERE WE AIM FOR SUSTAINABLE SOLUTIONS // Heiler, General Manager of High Wind. “We are also very pleased to have it ready for our first client at the start of the new installation season.” GeoSea also offers supporting and logistic services as well as survey and inspection services and maintenance and repair services of offshore structures. Its ability to provide innovative techniques and high operational reliability comes to a great degree from its hightech equipment; GeoSea’s jack-up
platforms include Innovation, Neptune and De Zeebouwer. Always looking ahead, construction is set for imminent completion on GeoSea’s ‘next generation’ offshore wind installation vessel Orion, which has been equipped with a 2000 tonne deckhouse. In October, GeoSea revealed that Orion was en route to Europe for final outfitting, with a Liebherr crane to give the 216.5 metre long vessel lifting capacity of 5000 tonnes. Once in service Orion will transport the monopiles, jackets, wind turbine components and other structures associated with the construction of giant multi-megawatt wind turbines. The vessel will join DEME’s fleet of over 100 vessels including jack-ups, crane vessels, dredgers and crew transfer vessels.
HORNSEA 1 GeoSea has been central to the construction of some of the world’s largest-scale offshore wind farms, and they don’t come any bigger than Hornsea Project One. Newly-received Apollo, built by Croatia’s Uljanik Shipyard, was called into action at the beginning of the year, with the high wind specialist despatched to the Hornsea Project One offshore wind farm to support its foundation installation campaign. Equipped with four 106.8m long lattice legs that allow it to work at depths up to 70 metres, Apollo has been designed for wind turbine and foundation installation, decommissioning and heavy-load transportation. Ørsted is famed as, “a renewable energy company that takes tangible action to create a world that
NG-5500X SELF-PROPELLED MULTI-PURPOSE JACK-UP
DEEPER WATERS & LIFE CYCLE SUPPORT
THE PIONEERS OF OFFSHORE ENGINEERING
www.gustomsc.com
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// WE SEE THE TRANSFORMATION OF THE ENERGY MARKET AS A GREAT OPPORTUNITY // runs entirely on green energy,” and is currently overseeing the construction of the Hornsea Project One, located 120km off the Yorkshire coast. The 1.2GW wind farm is poised to be the world’s largest array when commissioned in 2020, and will feature 174 Siemens Gamesa SWT7.0-154 turbines which will power more than one million homes.
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Offshore construction started in January 2018, when the first monopile foundation was installed by GeoSea’s installation vessel, Innovation. Ørsted announced in October that the last of the project’s 174 wind turbines had been installed at Hornsea 1, the world’s largest offshore wind farm. This time it was DEME Group’s Sea Challenger that proved paramount to the installation. Four wind turbines were loaded on to the vessel each time, and on average, it takes around 12 hours of precision working to install a turbine in full. Standing a mighty 190m above sea level and with its three 75m long blades, each 7MW wind turbine will be sufficient to power
a UK home for over a day with one single rotation. “The milestone of this last turbine being installed only nine months after the first one was erected is just one small part of this record-breaking project,” expressed Duncan Clark, Ørsted Programme Director for Hornsea 1. “Hornsea 1 has truly paved the way for the next generation of offshore wind farms. At the time of taking on the wind energy project, its scale and the technical pioneering required seemed a Herculean challenge, but a truly extraordinary effort from all those involved have managed to make this impressive feat of engineering the new norm.”
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NEW LEADERSHIP At the start of 2019, Luc Vandenbulcke took the reins of DEME Group. A civil engineer employed for 21 years within the group, he can proudly claim to have cofounded and led GeoSea, DEME’s fastest growing subsidiary company. This will lend itself perfectly to leading an organisation which wholly embraces constant change, welcoming innovation and navigating the evolving nature of sustainability. In February, DEME integrated its various offshore subsidiaries, including GeoSea, Tideway, A2Sea and EverSea, into one unit, consolidating all of the company’s offshore activities, expertise and capabilities from both its offshore wind and oil and gas
activities. “We see the transformation of the energy market as a great opportunity,” Luc Vandenbulcke said. “By joining forces and expertise, combined with our state-of-the-art fleet, we are confident that DEME Offshore will be in a unique position to help our customers achieve their aspirations in the offshore oil, gas and renewable energy sector.” Vandenbulcke makes clear that the vision for DEME now is building upon what predecessor Alain Bernard has achieved, to keep pushing the boundaries of what is possible for the Group as a whole. “We are developing a number of strong activity lines and through all of these activity lines we are building upon our vision
of ‘offering solutions for global, worldwide challenges’,” he informs. “For us, maritime-related challenges are domains where we aim for sustainable solutions. Our activity lines include: dredging – which continues to grow with innovation at the core, offshore with a sharp focus on sustainability and renewables but also in oil and gas, environmental remediation works, and infrastructure works.”
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December 2019
EQUINOR
Third Largest NCS Field Starts Up ALSO IN THIS ISSUE:
A&P Falmouth / DeRegt Cables / GeoSea / Borouge
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DECEMBER 2019