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The end is nigh
BRIEFS
An offshore charging buoy for wind farms initially aimed at crew transfer vessels will undergo sea trials next year. The Oasis Power Buoy, by Oasis Marine Power, can be connected by cable to a wind turbine to provide charging to boats that can moor to it and switch off, allowing crew to rest while its batteries are charged. Charging infrastructure is installed on the vessel deck head.
Wescom buys rescue tech firm
Emergency distress signal maker Wescom Group has expanded its presence in the marine survival market by buying Marine Rescue Technologies. Electronics signalling products will now be added to the firm’s SOLAS mandated smoke, rockets and flares, which it has been offering for 150 years. “The acquisition accomplishes a significant step forward in expanding our product portfolio,” said Ross Wilkinson, Wescom Group CEO.
SEA-KIT to design H2 USV
A hydrogen-powered Uncrewed Surface Vessel (USV) will be designed by SEA-KIT International following a hand-out from the UK government’s Clean Maritime Demonstration Competition, which has made £14 million (€16 million) available to firms competing for feasibility studies. The vessel will be suitable for deep water offshore operations and coastal survey, as well as the launch and recovery of ROVs, says CEO Ben Simpson.
AS WIND FARMS REACH END OF LIFE, OPERATORS TOLD TO PREPARE
Almost half of Europe’s wind farms will need to come down by 2030, says WindEurope, the association for wind energy in Europe.
“We need to prepare for what comes next,” says the association. “This might mean end of life for some turbines, but it also means repowering – replacing the old ones with new, bigger and more efficient turbines.”
It’s a win-win for the commercial marine industry, which is struggling to keep up with demand in the sector as across the globe, more and more offshore wind farms are planned. The more that go up, the more it will be able to bid to bring down at end of life.
Currently just 42 out of a total of 2,789 wind farms across the globe have been commissioned, says Jasmine Beaumont, with offshore wind farm intelligence firm 4COffshore. But, she says, the projects have an end date – and it might well be more cost effective after 20 years to take them down and start again with bigger turbines or better components.
Vindeby – the world’s first
The few wind farms decommissioned so far include the first offshore wind farm to ever be installed, the Vindeby wind farm in Denmark, which began operating in 1991 and was taken down in 2017, six years after its 20-year life expectancy.
Compared with today’s standards it was tiny – a mere 11 turbines that generated a maximum of 4.95MW, compared with the world’s largest today, Hornsea 2, with 165 turbines and a capacity of 1.3GW.
But Vindeby still needed a lot of work when it was put to bed. It needed a mobile crane to dismantle the blades, nacelle and tower, and a jack-up barge
on which to place them before being shipped away. The concrete foundations had to be broken down with hydraulic demolition shears and a hydraulic hammer, and all components shipped to shore. Some of the blades went to a laboratory for research, some Click here to read article on were made into a noise-
Maritime Journal online reduction barrier by recycling firm Miljøskærm. “These projects have to have an end date,” says Jasmine Beaumont, with offshore wind farm intelligence firm 4COffshore. “They have to set out a life span but it might be more cost effective after 20 years to take them down and start again.”
CONSORTIUM WINS CONTRACT FOR €900m PROJECT
The Port of Genoa is set to be transformed with a massive €900 million investment that will allow a breakwater to be built 450 metres beyond the current barrier.
One of the world’s deepest breakwaters, the project is said to be unique for its engineering complexity and scale.
A consortium led by Italian construction engineer Webuild Group, which has a 40% stake in it, is building the breakwater offshore, leaving port activities uninterrupted while the works are carried out.
It will be done by first constructing an underwater foundation, 450 metres beyond the existing barrier, with varying depths of up to 50 metres and a length of 6.2 kilometres, comprising an estimated seven million tonnes of rock. Around 100 prefabricated caissons of reinforced concrete will be laid on the foundation, each 33 metres high by 35 metres wide and 67 metres long. The consortium says each caisson equals a 10-storey building.
The other members of the consortium awarded the contract include Fincantieri Infrastructure Opere Maritime, which specialises in port structures, coastal defence works and dredging. The company also operates in high-tech marine industry sectors as well as the construction and transformation of cruise, naval and oil and gas and wind offshore vessels. Fincantieri has a 25% stake in the consortium.
Two other civil engineering firms make up the four members of the consortium - Sidra and Fincosit.
Webuild Group would not give details of the equipment and construction techniques it would use to finish the project, apart from saying: ”The infrastructure will be enhanced by innovative technology, construction techniques and sustainability characteristics together with the application of the principles of a circular economy, including the recovery re-use and transformation of excavated material.”
Once the breakwater is complete, the Port of Genoa will be able to accommodate ships twice the size of those that already visit the port. ”Ordered by the Western Ligurian Sea Port Authority, the new breakwater will allow safe access to the port to container ships up to 400-450 metres long, double the size of those passing today, tailoring the Ligurian port to the requirements of the main shipping companies,” said a statement by Fincantieri.
More details will be released next year, the consortium says.
