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Renewable Futures
Renewable Futures The emerging offshore wind market and what it means for diving contractors
BY JOEL SHAPIRO, RENEWABLE ENERGY BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER, NATIONAL INSTRUMENTS
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ENERGY HAS FAST BECOME ONE of the most important issues facing our society. Rapid growth in global energy consumption, peak oil and gas supplies, and strong concerns about energy independence and climate change - have all fueled a rapid increase in both the technology innovation and industry adoption of renewable energy.
Renewable energy uses energy sources that are continually replenished by nature, such as the sun, wind, water, the Earth’s heat and plants. Renewable energy technologies turn these natural fuels into usable forms of energy, most often as electricity, but also as heat and mechanical power.
While renewable energy won’t be the only answer to many of the issues previously mentioned, it will certainly play an integral role in addressing a significant portion of them, and it is widely accepted that clean energy will be one of the largest and most important industries of the 21st century.
In terms of size, it’s well on its way already. In 2008 global investment in renewable energy reached $120 billion, a 4X increase from 2004. In 2008 alone, wind energy grew by 29%, grid-tied solar grew by 70%, and largescale utility PV power plants tripled. Perhaps one of the most significant milestones of 2008 was that both the United States and European Union added more power capacity from renewable energy than from gas, coal, oil and nuclear combined. [1]
This rapid growth is here to stay. At the beginning of 2009, 64 countries across the world had implemented renewable energy policies, which mandate a percentage of total energy to come from renewable sources by varying dates. With close to 1 billion people in China and India alone that are positioned to join the middle class (and all of the energy usage that goes along with that), it’s clear that renewable energy will fast become the backbone of the global economy, providing a massive amount of job opportunities along the way.
Marine-based Renewable Energy Generation
One form of renewable energy that will have a significant impact on the commercial diving industry is the growing utilization of marine-based technologies for utility-scale electricity generation, which include off-shore wind turbines, wave harvesting buoys, and unconventional concepts, such as underwater current turbines that convert energy from water moving with low and high tides. While many of these technologies, such as the underwater current turbines, are in the early stages of development, off-shore wind farms have been in existence for almost 20 years, and have now been deployed in over eight European countries, with projects planned in five additional countries by 2015. [3]
Why Off -shore Wind?
There are many reasons that offshore wind represents one of the fastest growing segments of the energy production industry. With a growth rate of over 50% of global installed offshore wind in 2009 alone, it’s clear many countries agree. One of the most compelling of these reasons is the quality of offshore wind. The winds speeds are typically higher, more sustained (European wind farms generated electricity 70-90% of the time), and less turbulent than those found onshore. These conditions provide an ideal location for larger wind turbines, which are capable of generating larger amounts of electricity. In addition, many countries don’t have large amounts of land suitable for land-based wind farms, thus offshore regions with suitable water provide a great alternative. Finally, proximity to large cities is also an advantage. With over 40% of the global population living within 100 kilometers (roughly 62 miles) of coastlines, offshore wind farms also provide shorter transmission lines to load centers.
Stimulating the Commercial Diving Industry
The rapid growth in off-shore wind farms has already had a significant impact on the commercial diving industry. From initial site surveys, to building and implementing foundations,
to laying large amounts of underwater cables, there is no shortage of jobs that will require expertise from the commercial diving industry. Some of the more specific jobs include non-destructive test inspections, biological recordings, structural maintenance, cable terminations, surveys and photography and video. In Europe, where the majority of off-shore wind development has taken place, it’s easy to see the affect on the commercial diving industry.
The following are a few examples:
In the United Kingdom, licenses were recently awarded to a collection of companies to develop wind farms in nine separate seabed zones – kicking off one of the largest infrastructure projects in the world for wind energy. Work on this project has already begun, and recent graduates from the professional diving academy have already started lucrative careers, with basic diver entry wages starting at 250 pounds, or almost $400 a day. [6]
Tommy Henaughen, general manager for the Professional Diving Academy sees a bright future for commercial divers in the off-shore wind industry.
“It is now apparent that today’s generation of commercial divers are going to play an increasingly vital role in the installation of the massive new green infrastructure that is going to power the UK and many other nations into the future. Like the platforms and rigs associated with offshore oil and gas recovery, wind turbines are going to require regular inspection, maintenance and repair work. This is undoubtedly going to provide commercial diving work for a great many years to come.” [6]
Last year it was announced that CTC Marine Projects, a member of the Woodlands, TX, based Trico Marine Group, was awarded their first contract in the offshore wind farm industry. The project was awarded by E.ON Climate and Renewables UK for the development of the Robin Rigg Wind Farm, a 180MW project consisting of 60, 3MW wind turbines located between the Scottish and English coasts.
CTC Marine Projects scope of work will consist of the lay, installation and burial of 17 subsea power cable arrays that link the wind turbine foundations together, followed by post installation inspection and testing. The work will take approximately 90 days and will be performed in shallow water depths of up to nine meters.
Accord i ng to C TC Ma nag i ng Director, Darly Lunch, “This contract shows CTC’s ability to apply our extensive subsea experience in the oil and gas industry to the offshore wind farm market and highlights the breadth of services and technology that CTC can offer.”
Northern Divers Ltd., an Englandbased company, has been working in association with Q7, the second offshore wind farm in the Dutch sector of the North Sea, and the world’s first to be located at such a distance from the coast (outside of the 12-mile limit). The construction of the project started in mid2006, by installing cables to all wind turbines via the J-Tube arrangement,
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the burial of cables between windmills and the installation of main landfall cables. The Q7 Wind Park has been operational since June 2008, and contains 60 wind turbines, stationed in water ranging from 19-24 meters deep and located 23 kilometers offshore. [7]
Off -shore Wind to Grow In North America and Asia
Currently, the vast majority of installed offshore wind farms are located in Europe. While European countries and companies have been pioneers in this field, the rapid adoption and implementation they’ve achieved is expected to flow into both North America and Asia in the near future. According to EER, these two regions will contribute nearly 25% of the total new offshore capacity installed worldwide. In fact, a recent report from the U.S. Department of Energy, predicted that as much as 20% of the 300 GW of wind power envisioned for the United States by 2030 will come from off-shore wind farms.
Just this past March, Cape Wind announced that it had entered into an agreement to purchase 130 3.6 megawatt wind turbines from Siemens, for the first offshore wind farm in the United States, which will be located off the coast of Massachusetts. At the same time, Siemens, one of the worlds’ largest wind turbine manufacturers, announced plans to open a US offshore wind office in Boston.
In June 2009, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar issued five exploratory leases for wind power production on the Outer Continental Shelf offshore from New Jersey and Delaware. The leases authorize data gathering activities, allowing for the construction of meteorological towers on the Outer Continental Shelf from six to 18 miles offshore. [4]
China has also been active in the offshore wind industry. This past March, China joined the ranks of countries with installed offshore wind farms, finishing construction of a 102-megawatt project in the Yangtze River delta near Shanghai. This was the beginning of a new trend that will catapult China into a global leadership position for off-shore wind. Over the next three to four years, China plans to install over 500 megawatts of offshore wind. According to Azure International, a Chinese-based energy consultancy, China will invest $100 billion to install a staggering 30,000 megawatts of offshore wind by 2020, an amount that is equal to the amount of
onshore wind they have installed today. Considering China recently moved into second place behind the United States for total installed wind energy, that’s an incredible investment. One of the reasons China is pursuing offshore wind so aggressively is because 40% of their population lives along their east coast, and with the majority of Chinese power coming from hydroelectric, coal and wind power in western China, local governments are looking for a way to stimulate local economies and provide energy for their fast growing population centers.
The United States and China aren’t the only countries planning offshore wind development. South Korea and Japan, two land-strapped countries, are also pursuing offshore wind energy. South Korea recently announced plans to develop a 1 GW offshore wind farm, and Japan is
investing heavily in research in this area, with plans to deliver initial wind energy by 2011.
Conclusion
Many factors have contributed to the strong growth of renewable energy – and the industry is poised to continue this growth well into the future. Offshore wind energy represents the largest opportunity in the renewable energy industry for commercial divers. Immense success in Europe, coupled with significant advances in technologies and know how, and other unique benefits of offshore wind have paved the way for countries in North America and Asia to quickly follow suit. Just as European wind farms were built on the specialized skills and expertise of commercial divers, so too will be the wind farms that will soon power the coastal regions of countries like the United States and China, creating even greater demand for commercial divers in the future.
Sources:
[1] “Renewables Global Status Report.” Renewable Energy Policy Network for the 21st Century. www.ren21.net. 4/15/2010. [2] “Republic of India.” U.S. Department of State. www.state.gov. 4/10/2010. [3] “Offshore Wind Energy.”American Wind Energy Association. www.awea.org. 3/1/2009. [4] “DOI Announces Five Exploratory Leases for Offshore Wind Energy.” Renewable Energy World. www.renewableenergyworld. com. 6/25/2009. [5] “Study: Next Decade One of Progress for Global Offshore Wind Industry.” Wind Power Monthly. www.windpowermonthly. com. 1/5/2010. [6] “Professional Diving Academy Welcomes Recent Announcement for Offshore Wind Farm Expansion Plans.” Offshore Wind. www.offshorewind.biz. 2/15/2010. [7] “Inshore / offshore.” Northern Divers. www.northerndivers.co.uk. 4/15/2010. [8] “South Korea Eyes 1 GW Offshore Wind Farm Expansion.” Power-Gen WORLDWIDE. www.powergenworldwide. com. 2/9/2010. [9] “Chinese Wind Power Heads Offshore.” Technology Review. www.technologyreview. com. 4/5/2010.
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