Offshore WIND Magazine #4 2017

M a g a z i n e f o r T H E O F F S H O R E W I N D I N D U S T R Y | VOL VIII NO 04 2017 | WWW.OFFSHOREWIND.BIZ

Magazine for THE OFFSHORE WIND INDUSTRY

INTERVIEW DONG ENERGY NETHERLANDS

GRIDS AND CABLES

OFFSHORE WIND CONFERENCE & OEEC

Price per issue 7 25 Europe | 7 27 Rest of the world

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Register now Offshore Energy attracts a global audience of more than 12,000 offshore energy industry professionals.

The three-day event, features an exhibition where over 650 companies will showcase their products and services. The accompanying conference addresses current and future issues in the offshore industry, covering developments in oil & gas, offshore wind and marine energy. See you in Amsterdam!

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CONTENTS

6 1 |

CONTENTS

3 |

EDITOR’S NOTE

5 |

6 |

12

22

GUEST COLUMN KIM MOERK DNV GL – Energy

MAIN INTERVIEW JASPER VIS

DONG Energy Netherlands

12 |

HUB PORTS DENMARK

16 |

OFFSHORE WIND OUTLOOK

United States

22 |

GRID CONNECTIONS

In-depth Techtalk

30 |

CABLE SOLUTIONS

Prepare to repair

34 |

UPDATE BORSSELE

40 |

INSTALLATION VESSELS

Update

44 | C OST-SAVING INSPECTION CONCEPT Bluestream

48 | Q &A WITH OFFSHORE WIND CONFERENCE SPEAKERS

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44

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51 | A RE YOU READY TO TACKLE THE CHALLENGES?

In-depth look at Offshore WIND Conference

58 |

BREEZES

67 |

WIND FARM UPDATES

77 |

EVENTS

78 |

BUSINESS DIRECTORY

80 |

COLOPHON & ADVERTISERS’ INDEX

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EDITOR’S NOTE

Leading the way This year I have been heavily involved in the programme for Offshore WIND Conference, which has been a rewarding experience. From the very beginning I have been part of the decision making process and I am certain we have put together a very solid event together with our partner Chris Westra. Our aim is to find out if we can meet the challenges set for the short term and what is in store long-term.

We have a great and expert speaker line up including Pieter van Oord (Van Oord), Bent Christensen and David Molenaar (Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy), Davide Coppela and Daiva Matoniene (European Committee of the Regions).

They will be guided by our two chairs, day 1, Bent Thambo Jensen (Ziton) and day 2, Mike Blanch (BVG Associates). I, for one, cannot wait to see the magic happen.

It will come as no surprise that this issue will have a focus on Offshore Energy Exchibition and Conference and Offshore WIND Conference. As our main interview features Jasper Vis from DONG Energy Netherlands (and speaker during Offshore WIND Conference), interviews with many other OWC speakers as well as an indepth look at what to expect during Offshore Energy 2017. Furthermore, delve into the world of grids and connections, hub ports of Denmark and the guest column by DNV GL. I wish you lots of reading pleasure.

Kind regards, Rebecca van den Berge-McFedries Editor-in-Chief Offshore WIND

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OFFSHORE WIND

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GUESTCOLUMN

China and the US will outstrip Europe in the 2020s

KIM MOERK EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT FOR RENEWABLES CERTIFICATION DNV GL – ENERGY

DNV GL has recently published its ‘Energy Transition Outlook Report’ where we predict the model of the world energy system up to 2050. It shows that a cleaner, more electrified world is within our reach. Getting there will take multiple actions and I am sure we all agree, offshore wind will play a significant role in contributing to reaching this goal.

Our report shows that China will dominate the global offshore wind market: 33 per cent of global capacity will be installed in China by 2050. Europe loses its current leading position: both China and North America exceed European installed offshore wind capacity by the early 2020s, and growing offshore wind in OECD Pacific matches European levels by the 2030s.

A short-term growth in offshore wind reflects the fact that cost will no longer be a significant constraint on the use of this technology. As a wider range of stakeholders wake up to this new reality, installation rates are likely to accelerate. In the short-term, ten-year horizon, however, we must acknowledge that installation rates for offshore wind, particularly in nascent markets such as North America and China, depend on rapid development of the supply chains and enabling regulatory processes. Due to increased competition from other renewables resources, exacerbated by the trend for new capacity additions to be subject to competitive auctions, such sustained growth requires a continued sustained reduction in Cost of Energy, particularly for offshore wind. We foresee improvements in all aspects of the technology, project execution and operation. Further developments in turbine technology include lighter, more flexible blades; new aerodynamic control devices; innovation in transmission systems; new sensors; and smart control systems.

Of equal importance will be the intelligent management of large numbers of turbines using condition monitoring and central data acquisition and analysis to optimise operation and maintenance. There will also be an increased focus on the value such assets bring to the overall energy system. To ensure that the wind industry meets the joint challenges of further cost reduction

while maximizing the value that wind assets bring to the energy system, all stakeholders will need to take advantage of learnings available from analysis of huge quantities of data generated over project lifecycles.

This approach enables deeper understanding of how design choices, particularly for improved control, made in the development phase impact on operational performance. Analysis of the project lifecycle data can also further validate the tools used in the development and design phases so as to reduce uncertainties and lead to increased efficiencies.

Offshore wind energy has its own specific challenges while being able to benefit from technology developments in the much larger onshore industry.

Great strides have been made over the last decade and the current generation of 6-8MW turbines represents the first truly offshore class of technology. In addition, the disappointing scale and rate of growth of the offshore market has restricted the potential for learning by doing.

Offshore turbines around 10MW in size are now coming forward, but as the focus moves from Northern Europe to other regions, it is essential that the industry learns from experience and does not repeat mistakes.

Respective shares of onshore and offshore wind in the future generation mix will depend heavily on their relative rates of cost reduction, and also on the availability of infrastructure to support development, of offshore in particular. The total cost will be the determining factor, and recent European auctions have shown that where the public sector bears some development risks or power transmission costs, the headline cost of offshore wind can compete even more effectively with other forms of power generation.

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INTERVIEW

Achieving milestones " I THINK THIS SHOULD NOT REALLY BE SUCH A SURPRISE, DONG ENERGY HAS BEEN WORKING HARD ON COST REDUCTION."

6

Jasper Vis | Country Manager DONG Energy Netherlands.

Speaker Offshore WIND Conference

IN LESS THAN TWELVE MONTHS DONG ENERGY HAS MANAGED TO ACHIEVE SEVERAL KEY COMPANY AND INDUSTRY MILESTONES, WHICH ONLY A FEW YEARS AGO WERE OFTEN SEEN AS LOFTY AMBITIONS AND ONES THAT THE INDUSTRY WOULD NOT ACHIEVE ANYTIME SOON.

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The magical 100 EUR per MWh was the first industry dream to turn to reality and then came even better news – the first subsidy-free offshore wind farm. There is now a sense that offshore wind is entering a new era – one where it can hold its head up amongst other traditional energy producers and look them in the eye.

DONG Energy, the world’s largest offshore wind company, has been playing a vital role and striving towards these goals. Offshore Wind interviews the Danish company and asks how it managed to turn these often scoffed at ambitions into solid solutions.

Perhaps the taste of things to come was seen last year when DONG Energy made the announcement that it was to start the process of abandoning its oil and gas activities, in line with its efforts to become the renewables energy leader. Then came the news this year that the Danish company had already managed to divest its upstream oil and gas business to the British group Ineos for more than a billion euros.

Divorcing fossil fuel In February, there was another announcement – this time DONG Energy was ditching coal. The company said it would shift away from coal-fired power plants in favour of biomass. Whether driven by shareholders, following the company’s listing in June 2016, or whether these bold steps came about purely based on its own green ambitions is not clear, but certainly it had thrown down the gauntlet to the industry.

Following on from its fossil fuel divestment, there was another headline grabbing move when it became clear that DONG Energy was the first to achieve the mythical and much sought after cost reduction the sector has been striving for – the 100 EUR per MWh. Not only that, its bid for the Borssele wind farms in Netherlands were substantially below the 100 EUR target.

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Borssele 1 & 2 In July, the Dutch Minister of Economic Affairs awarded the company the concession to build Borssele 1 & 2.

DONG Energy was successful with an average bid strike price, of 72.70 EUR per MWh for the first 15 years of the contract, although this does not include the transmission costs. The offshore grid is handled by TenneT. Due to be built within four years, Borssele 1 & 2 have a capacity of 376MW each and will supply approximately

one million Dutch households. The wind farms will be located 22 kilometres from the coast of the Dutch province of Zeeland in a water depth of 14-38 metres.

They will cover an area of 128 square kilometres and benefit from an annual average wind speed of 9.5m/s.

Although DONG Energy had set a 2020 cost target of reaching 100 EUR per MWh over the life-time of a wind farm (the levelized cost of electricity), including the offshore grid, there was still somewhat of a surprise that it had managed to do it some four years in advance.

Country Manager for DONG Energy Netherlands, Jasper Vis, explains how the company was able to achieve its goal and prove the sceptics wrong.

“I think this should not really be such a surprise, DONG Energy has been working hard on cost reduction, but really this has been achieved as a sector as a whole.

Overall, we have seen a very large reduction in costs in the offshore wind sector over recent years, and this has been enabled by strong growth in countries such as Denmark, the UK and Germany.

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“This is what the sector needs – a plan for offshore wind going

This has also enabled a lot of learning in the sector. “The lessons learnt have allowed the industry to develop relatively speedily so we have seen turbines becoming larger etc. Fewer, larger turbines means less cable is used, fewer foundations… Turbine and foundation installation is much more efficient nowadays and this results in cost reductions across the industry.”

forward.”

Borssele 1 & 2 will play a role in realising the Netherlands own green targets, which itself is aiming towards a 40 per cent cost reduction for offshore wind, he points out, but the LCOE target of below 100 EUR goes way beyond Dutch boundaries.

Under 100 EUR per MWh “I am happy we could prove that cost reductions were possible and the target was achieved in 2016 much quicker than expected. Here in Netherlands people were very sceptical this target would ever be achieved.”

Vis stresses that he was of the opinion that the Dutch government would simply not continue providing support for the offshore wind industry if the 100 EUR per MWh was not achieved. “If we did not achieve these cost reductions, I think there was no future for offshore wind because the amount of support needed would just be too large. The fact that we have hit this target much earlier gives much wider support for offshore wind.

“People can now see that offshore wind is becoming cost competitive and standing on its own. This gives a very different perspective – they can see that it can be a sector that won’t always need lots of support over the longer term.”

Changing political debate In the Netherlands, Borssele has also changed the political debate, Vis points out. “Offshore wind has become more attractive, and can make a key contribution to renewables in the Netherlands.”

The Dutch government’s role was also vital, he adds, and helped DONG Energy get the costs down. “The government has designed a new bidding system for offshore wind, which crucially gives visibility. Essentially we can see that there will be five tenders in a row using the same system. A substantial volume is there. And if a company loses a specific tender, it knows there will be more, allowing the company and the supply chain to make the necessary investments. I think the Dutch government did an excellent job, giving this visibility for five years.” Although he admits the shift in attitude was perhaps overdue as the Netherlands only has six per cent of its energy coming from renewables at the moment. “The debate has changed dramatically, gas

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was the fuel of choice here but now people are looking for renewable alternatives. We have a large area of sea, relatively shallow water, great opportunities for offshore wind.”

The change in the political climate was highlighted as Henk Kamp, the Dutch outgoing Minister of Economic Affairs, proposed to continue the rollout of offshore wind with 1GW a year from 2020. Vis is optimistic that the new government – when formed – will take this recommendation on board. “This is what the sector needs – a plan for offshore wind going forward.”

Given that Europe is committed to 4GW a year, 1-1.5 GW is a good contribution from the Netherlands, he adds. DONG Energy has also shown that the Borssele tender is not a one-off. The Danish renewables giant sent further shockwaves through the industry when it bid for and won several prestigious offshore wind farm concessions in Germany, and in an historic milestone they are subsidy free and will instead be based entirely on wholesale market prices.

Subsidy-free new concessions German’s electricity grid regulator Bundesnetzagentur, (BNetzA) approved the DONG bids for Borkum Riffgrund West, Gode Wind 3 and Northern Energy OWP West.

Many developments led to the ‘Holy Grail’ of the industry been realised, Vis stresses. A major factor is the eye-watering turbines, which will be in the 13MW-15MW range. “By 2024 we expect turbines of 13-15MW, allowing us to achieve economies of scale, using fewer turbines to produce more electricity.” The farms are also based in a very windy location and they are near to existing projects. As well as the scale, the German authorities have extended the lifetime of the wind farm from 25-30 years, which has made a substantial difference, says Vis. And importantly, the bids are not for the full scope in that they don’t include building the offshore transmission stations. There is no denying the significance of these first subsidy-free bids for 2024.

“The trend is clear,” he says. “But the situation in other countries is different.”

As country manager in the Netherlands, he points out that the largest turbines are currently 4MW at the Gemini wind farm and for Borssele DONG Energy will deploy 8MW turbines. The industry is scaling up and continually bringing costs down. “We are seeing a consistent trend of offshore wind becoming a lot cheaper, more cost competitive. And when fully cost competitive, offshore wind power will be cheaper than other technologies when taking the lifetime of a farm into account. It is clear to see that offshore wind is on a certain trajectory.”

Vis is confident that offshore wind will not become a victim of its own success as the subsidy-free era emerges. “On the contrary, we think it will get much broader support.” DONG Energy’s own strategy is clear,

he emphasises. In 2009 the company stated that 85 per cent of its energy came from fossil fuel but by 2040 this should be transformed, with 85 per cent coming from renewables. Sorry is that right? By 2023 DONG Energy will no longer use coal in its power plants. “We have achieved this all much faster and will continue to invest in offshore wind and biomass.”

There is no silver bullet to deliver cost reductions, he stresses.

“Larger turbines and components are only one element. The sector is becoming more efficient with new technology, new vessels, shipyards, equipment and all the time it is learning.”

11-12GW by 2025 DONG Energy currently has 21 offshore wind farms in its portfolio, 16 of which are operated by the company.

And five are under construction.

Vis says the company covers all phases of the development of a wind farm - to own, operate and decommission them. DONG Energy will continue building up its portfolio of offshore wind farms, he says and move into new markets such as the US and Taiwan, where it had recently opened offices.

It expects to reach an installed power of 11-12GW by the end of 2025. The portfolio currently represents 3,800MW installed power and this will be 6,700MW by 2020. “We are increasing quite rapidly and want to play a leading role in the energy transition and making green energy independent and economically viable.” However, it is crucial that governments give a clear vision for offshore wind, particularly from 2020-2030 and onwards, he says. “Companies need this clarity to decide how much they can invest. If a government takes this role the industry can certainly deliver renewable energy from the sea!”

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Hubs ports of Denmark In the Northern part of the German sector in the North Sea, the island of Helgoland has become a staging point for offshore wind personnel cutting the commuting time from ‘bed to work’. Hotels accommodate technicians and engineers over night for day time sailings by Crew Transfer Vessels (CTVs) to and from wind farms allowing these workers to have sensible and safe working hours.

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Offshore WIND | NO. The port04of2017 Rønne as it exists today

Port of Esbjerg

A more ambitious development concerns a group of companies who are talking seriously about building an island further south and more centrally positioned. This man-made island would not only cater for the accommodation but also include gas-based transmission and storage solutions to be deployed and electricity connections to a super grid. Whenever news items concerning this artificial island have been published on our news website www.offshoreWIND.biz they have constantly become the best-read news items.

If a North Sea Wind Power Hub is news then a Southern Baltic Wind Power Hub can also become a reality.

The island of Bornholm is aiming to become that hub and has gathered a group of interested parties on the island to form “Offshore Centre Bornholm.”

Offshore WIND spoke to Thomas Bendtsen, the CEO of the Port of Rønne on the island of Bornholm, about the plans and opportunities for the island’s port and the offshore wind industry.

Bornholm The 588 square kilometre island of Bornholm is the most Easterly part of Denmark and has a population of over 39,000 people. The main town and port is Rønne with a population of over 13,000. The port is situated 150 kilometes SSE of Copenhagen, 66 kilometres from Ystad, the nearest port on the mainland of Sweden and 195 kilometres due North of Szczecin, the 3rd largest port in Poland. Thomas Bendtsen, the CEO of Rønne Havn A/S, carries out the day-to-day management and together with Max Hansen the CFO form the executive board of the Port of Rønne.

In recent years the port has seen a large growth in the number of visiting cruise ships to the island, which has added to the tourism making it the island’s main industry. Catering for larger cruise ships having a deeper water requirement lead to an expansion of the harbour, to which they now plan to include areas set aside for the development of offshore wind facilities.

Thomas Bendtsen told Offshore WIND that they estimate a maximum potential total of up to 15GW of offshore wind generation within a radius of 100 nautical miles. Reports from McKinsey and Company, and others, point to ten already paid project licences for wind farms in the Polish sector alone generating between six and 9GW by 2030 and planned to start construction by 2021. Further projects in the Danish, Swedish and German sectors within that radius are also planned.

“ Cutting the commuting time in the area.”

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The port of Rønne including the extension

Offshore centre The island has a strong maritime services industry and companies in this sector have joined up to form ‘Offshore Centre Bornholm’. Their experience in this sector provides a good basis for setting up bases for CTVs and installation vessels supplied by feeder services from the mainland. Today there are multiple ferry sailings every day to and from ports in Germany, Denmark, Sweden and Poland. The islanders say that the flights to and from Copenhagen, seven to ten flights per day, serve only cold coffee as there is insufficient time on the flight to drink a cup of hot coffee. The logistics infrastructure for the centre is there already.

The plan for the harbour is to provide 200 metres of quayside dedicated to offshore wind services suitable for installation vessels to jack up three metres from the quay and a further 300

metres of multi-functional quay side for other vessels. The board is now in the middle of a tendering process with five companies and consortia from Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands and Denmark that have been prequalified to tender. A final decision and an associated announcement will be due mid October, unfortunately after this edition of Offshore WIND will have gone to press. After final contract signing in mid-October, they envisage that the Offshore Centre Bornholm could be operational by as soon as late Q1 / early Q2 of 2019.

Finance is already in place and there is majority approval from the island population and other parties who recognise the job creation possibilities.

As islanders, they have already lived with vessels sailing to and from the island for hundreds of years, vessels with legs will add a new dimension to their history.

“ Majority approval from the island population and other parties who recognise the job creation possibilities.”

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Offshore Wind Outlook:

United States

With only 30MW currently in commercial operation, the U.S. is lagging behind both Europe and Asia in installed offshore wind capacity. Nevertheless, this also makes almost every megawatt to be installed part of the outlook offshore wind players could look forward to in the country with vast resources and offshore wind market preparing for take-off.

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The U.S. possesses massive wind resources off its East and West Coasts, as well as in the Great Lakes and Gulf of Mexico. While these resources have been untapped so far, the U.S. is now progressing on its path toward using offshore wind energy with Block Island Wind Farm representing a tangible proof. Aside from America’s first offshore wind farm entering commercial operation, the activities in the country’s nascent sector have significantly increased, especially in some of the states that have shown strong commitment to push forward this renewable energy technology.

Over the past few years, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) has held a number of competitive lease sales, while some developers have also submitted unsolicited proposals. The U.S. offshore wind areas have attracted

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the interest of major developers such as DONG Energy, Iberdrola and Statoil.

Along with supportive policies in several states, declining prices of offshore wind power in Europe have come as an additional go-ahead sign, as it would justify the feasibility for the consumers.

Gigawatts to catch As of June 2017, there are 28 projects totalling 24,135MW of potential installed capacity in the U.S. offshore wind project pipeline, according to the 2016 Offshore Wind Technologies Market Report, published by the U.S. Energy Department’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). These include various projects at different stages of development and regulatory procedures. Same as in Europe, not all these projects are necessarily bound to come to realisation, Liz Burdock,

Executive Director at the Business Network for Offshore Wind, said in an interview with Offshore WIND. “What I think will happen is similar to what happens in Europe, meaning some projects will move forward and some will not. However, what we will see are more lease areas become available, so more GWs will be added to the pipeline replacing those projects that fall off. Ultimately, the 24GW capacity and likely a lot more will be developed. and the question is only at what time point,” Liz Burdock said. Some of the lease sales that will further boost the U.S. project pipeline will be carried out soon. “We anticipate a sale in 2018, probably in Massachusetts, and we are looking at possibly another sale in New York,” Jim Bennett, Chief of the Office of Renewable Energy Programs at BOEM, told Offshore WIND.

In terms of installed capacity by 2030, the U.S. is expected to have more than 1,000MW with 4-6GW being planned and implemented at that point, according to Liz Burdock.

By 2040, between 15GW and 20GW could be installed off the U.S. coasts, Burdock said. Over the coming five years, several projects could reach “steel in the water” phase, such as the two-turbine research offshore wind project Dominion and DONG Energy are developing in Virginia, as well as some of the projects off Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Maryland, according to Jim Bennett.

LEEDCo’s Icebreaker and University of Maine’s VolturnUS projects are also scheduled to be in the water in the following few years.

States that lead the way Most of the offshore wind activity and developer interest is currently concentrated in the Atlantic off the Northeast coast, although projects have been proposed for other U.S. regions as well. According to our conversations with both Liz Burdock and Jim Bennet, this is primarily due to the electricity market.

Wind resource, buildable environment, and a marketplace are three fundamental elements that make up a highly attractive wind energy area, Jim Bennett said, further adding: “These things all come together in the Northeast, and looking at New York specifically, the state probably has the biggest market demand for electricity.”

When it comes to the West Coast, the story is somewhat different. There is a project proposal off Morro Bay on which BOEM is working, but in general, the site conditions off the Pacific coast are most suitable for floating wind technology and to some extent depends on its development towards feasibility.

Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) is scheduled to complete the Master Plan by the end of this year.

Massachusetts passed An Act to Promote Energy Diversity last year, requiring state electricity providers to procure 1,600MW of offshore wind capacity by 2027 and enabling offshore wind projects to establish offtake agreements for 15–20 years more easily. Maryland has a Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) in place, requiring utilities to procure at least 25 per cent of their total annual load from renewable energy by 2020 and 2.5 per cent from offshore wind. The state also adopted the Maryland Offshore Wind Energy Act of 2013 and introduced Offshore Renewable Energy Credits (ORECs), which were recently awarded to two projects being developed by Deepwater Wind and US Wind.

At the moment, there is significant activity ongoing at BOEM, which will soon mark a huge step forward for a few states.

Namely, the Site Assessment Plan (SAP) for Deepwater Wind’s South Fork project is expected to be approved soon, followed

by Vineyard Wind project, according to BOEM’s Jim Bennett. The first SAP approval was given to DONG Energy’s Bay State Wind project in July 2017.

A touch of Europe In September 2017, the U.S. Department of Energy, NREL, BOEM, Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement, Business Network for Offshore Wind, and the American Wind Energy Association launched an initiative to create U.S. offshore wind standards.

“ We anticipate a sale in 2018, probably in Massachusetts, and we are looking at possibly another sale in New York.”

Several states including Massachusetts, New York, and Maryland have created new or attuned the existing policies to facilitate the development of almost 5GW of offshore wind. New York is taking the lead with its Offshore Wind Master Plan and a 2.4GW-by-2030 target. The New York State Energy

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“Following the experience of the shipping, oil & gas, and European offshore oil and wind industries, this set of national offshore consensus standards is an essential component to help accelerate commercial scale development of the U.S. offshore wind industry,” the official press release stated.

pioneering endeavours such as offshore wind decommissioning and installing a floating wind farm.

Regarding the supply chain that they will have in the U.S., Jim Bennett pointed out that there are efforts in some states to accommodate

With Europe providing its expertise in offshore wind energy development, the U.S. is setting its own way to use this natural resource and is becoming the hotspot of offshore wind developers’ interest. The proof that the U.S. holds big market opportunities that are yet to be tapped

© Fred. Olsen Windcarrier

When it comes to European offshore wind, the U.S. is looking to use the Old Continent’s experience the same way Asia does. Generally, this means learning from successes and mistakes made in Europe, and implementing that knowledge in a way most suitable for the U.S..When talking about the European Experience, both Liz Burdock and Jim Bennett mentioned Denmark, as well as the UK and Germany as examples that have established industries. However, the fact remains that the governmental structures are different and that it is impossible to transfer the schemes.

Still, a lot of BOEM’s programme has incorporated best practices and lessons learned from its European counterparts, according to Bennett.

Looking at the future U.S. offshore wind farms, the construction and operation expertise is brought by several developers from Europe, some of whom have already gone through new

offshore wind construction. These include the New Bedford port, research and development facilities in Massachusetts and some similar activities being done in Maryland.

However, as the projects from the pipeline move to construction, there will be a more robust supply chain to support them, Bennet said.

In terms of tier one suppliers, the U.S. could see these companies taking the stage by 2028, according to Liz Burdock, who expects discussions on building components such as offshore wind turbine nacelles and blades in the U.S. to emerge around that time. Until then, this will still be procured from Europe. Crew transfer vessel builders and operators, as well as operations and maintenance suppliers are well set to support the development, but this is also something that will come to light once the U.S. offshore wind farms begin with construction.

into can be seen from the results of the competitive lease sales held in December 2016 and March 2017, when developers have shown they were ready to pay millions and tens of millions of U.S. dollars to put with turbines in the federal waters.

Other companies having an offshore wind track record in Europe have also been eyeing the U.S. as their opportunity for expansion, including consulting agencies, cable suppliers, foundation producers, and offshore construction companies. While Europe is the birth place of offshore wind and the industry has entered a mature stage there, European offshore wind businesses are slowly joining as the U.S. is ascending and are prepared to fasten their seat belts once the U.S. announces the take-off. Given that Europe has more than 20 years of offshore wind experience, this is nothing but a win-win situation.

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IN-DEPTH TECHTALK

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Grid connections Eight countries located around the Baltic Sea space have teamed up for implementing the Integrated Baltic Offshore Wind Electricity Grid Development or Baltic InteGrid project that runs from 2016 - 2019. Eize de Vries spoke with leading project experts Anika Nicolaas Ponder* and Thilo Krupp about envisaged opportunities and benefits, and risks and challenges linked to the initiative.

Baltic InteGrid is an EU-supported EUSBSR Flagship project comprising fourteen private and public project partners including five universities, marine and technology institutes, plus associated organisations in seven participating countries.

An overall project main aim is enhancing energy independence within Europe, and a main other priority area the protection of natural resources. The timeline for various scenarios developed within the project is a roadmap covering the period 2025 - 2045, subdivided in five-year review/evaluation stages and a choice in different grid investment strategies.

These range from zero to partial and maximum levels between offshore wind farms and converter stations onshore and offshore, with key words project and system dimensioning, flexibility, complexity and costs.

Research packages The actual project composition comprises three main parts: a network and conference platform called Baltic Offshore Grid Forum, two distinct country-to-country Case Studies, and a The Baltic Offshore Grid Concept. The latter concept plan is subdivided into six

thematic research packages – Policy & Regulation, Market & Supply Chain, Technology & Grid Design, Environment & Society, Spatial Planning, and Cost-Benefit Analysis.

Main project outcomes support the creation of long-term framework conditions for ‘organically’ developing a common meshed HVDC-type electrical grid infrastructure, in turn capable of interconnecting offshore windfarms and participating BSR countries (page 25).

Additional research effort focuses at cross-country grid stabilizing and future incorporation of storage technologies whenever possible and feasible.

However, the storage topic forms despite its importance no part of Baltic InteGrid noted Anika Ponder, project coordinator for lead partner Berlinbased Institut für Klimaschutz, Energie und Mobilität (IKEM). She added: “We are now at the project implementing stage, which from a pure physical viewpoint starts from a modest basis of ten operational offshore windfarms all built relatively close to shore (Textbox). A shared key characteristic of these projects is that they are via HVAC-cables individually connected to national onshore high-voltage AC (HVAV) network ‘landing points’. This is

a proven economically viable solution for individual windfarms, but for our meshed grid infrastructure in development we aim at using HVDC.

MESHED GRID A meshed grid approach radically differs from single radial connections from individual offshore wind farms to shore, by the fact that it provides multiple grid links between different wind farms and countries. Perhaps the first idea for a comprehensive meshed grid approach is from 2007 originating from Irish offshore wind developer Airtricity. The grand vision comprised a series of interconnected offshore wind farms throughout the seas of Europe, and dispersed across a wide geographical area ranging from the Baltic Sea to the Mediterranean and Atlantic.

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“We are now at the project implementing stage, which from a pure physical viewpoint starts from a modest basis of ten operational offshore windfarms all built relatively close to shore.�

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BSR OFFSHORE WIND STATUS The current operating offshore base in the Baltic Sea Region (BSR) is around 1.4GW, and modest compared to cumulative North Sea commissioned wind­ farms amounting to around 11GW. One pioneering Swedish Baltic Sea project, Yttre Stengrund (5x 2MW NEG Micon; 2000) was decommissioned in 2016.

Denmark leads with offshore wind track record in the BSR with four windfarms and in total 748MW, followed by Germany in second and Sweden third positions and two operating projects each, and finally Finland with one windfarm.

Currently being built in German waters are Wikinger (350MW) for completion this year, and Arkona-Becken Südost (384MW) set for commissioning 2019. At least eight more BSR projects in various planning stages show cumulative installed capacities between 2.7 and 3.3GW and with three envisaged for construction start up to 2023. These most concrete plans include a 700 –1100MW windfarm for Estonia, and a 600 – 1200MW project for Poland. The third is Kriegers Flak (600MW), which is unique for BSR and the offshore wind industry in being a joint Danish-German project, situated in territorial waters of both countries.

Source: Liste der Offshore-Windparks

The Baltic Sea space is a rather small confined area compared to the much larger North Sea. Another main difference is the comparatively unfavourable Baltic Sea wind climate. Mean wind speeds in the German part of the BSR realistically range between around 8.6 – 9.2 m/s versus 9.5 – 10m/s for most of far-shore North Sea and even up to 10.5m/s in Germany’s Deutsche Bucht.

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“We have taken a holistic approach for solving different challenges when the project evolve.”

Essential High wind speed is essential because wind at 10m/s contains 57% more energy compared to wind 8.6m/s wind speeds. Another potential negatively impacting wind power LCOE cost factor in BSR are the typical hard soil conditions, which could lead to higher installation costs.

These given disadvantages are at least partly offset by several LCOE-impacting benefits including easier accessibility

of BSR windfarms built closer to shore, reinforced by reduced sea cable length and cost. Also positive is that wave heights are lower and average water depths less compared to average North Sea conditions.

This explained Thilo Krupp, Project Manager of the Stiftung OFFSHOREWINENERGIE (German Offshore Wind E 030, while Germany plans to expand up to 3GW in the BSR and within that same timespan.”

Ponder added on another already close challenge, the establishing of a legally sound and politically acceptable framework plan for Kriegers Flak well before it comes online in XX. Such agreement must provide all necessary preconditions for allowing to sell electricity directly to both Germany and Denmark and vice versa. Among other pending issues to be resolved in the BSR space are the clearing WWII ordnance dump sites, and agreeing on often-conflicting multi-use functions like shipping routes, military training and environmental protected areas.

Grid stabilising “These factors are all essential for successfully implementing a meshed grid system. Grid stabilizing through building more interconnections is thereby an increasingly important economic driver, and thus a main stimulus for accelerated implementation.

This applies especially for Germany and Denmark, because these often experience renewable energy generating surpluses and adding sufficient linkages would allow them to sell whatever they could not use internally to neighbouring countries.

However, all current intermittence issues will not be fully solved by interconnections only, and under such highly complex conditions with multiple variables energy storage comes in as a key topic. This development is again spearheaded by Germany and Denmark, and government support is essential to making it to succeed”, said Ponder.

Adding to these comments and elaborating further on key technical

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opportunities and challenges Krupp said that weather conditions in Northern Germany and Southern Denmark usually do not differ much. Strong winds creating power surpluses might therefore occur almost simultaneously in these countries, whereas typically bigger weather condition differences in Germany and Sweden could make such surplus power exchanges a mutual opportunity. Krupp: “Norway has a large hydropower installed capacity, which is already deployed successfully for intermediate storage via the NorNed marine cable linkage with the Netherlands. Another example is the Cobra Cable linkage between The Netherlands and Denmark. Use of HVDC technology for building the BSR meshed grid makes a lot of sense too but it is still expensive.

HVDC implementation is further much impacted by legal framework conditions and these do vary per country. In the UK for instance, an offshore project developer is responsible for both windfarm and grid connection and thus bears the full risk and cost.”

In Germany by contrast the responsible TSO (often Tennet) compulsory provides HVDC converter platforms for connecting one or multiple windfarms in pre-selected areas, and they do carry all risks and cost.

long-term planning. Besides long-term vision, sufficient built-in flexibility is essential in dealing with major factors like unforeseen political changes within country-specific circumstances ‘for the better or worse’.

Experienced participants from especially Germany, Denmark and Sweden are finally likely the hardware and software and know-how suppliers for especially in the first meshed grid implementing stages and most windfarm equipment. This may be true said Krupp, but that leaves still ample employment-related and additional financial-economic opportunities open for the other member state partners like for manufacturing foundations or building and operating windfarm service ports. These can also benefit greatly from providing skilled personnel during windfarm installation and long-term upkeep.

“Successful cooperation in realizing the BSR meshed grid within the next 25+ years represents a huge overall challenge. It requires like-minded participants, accept that there are different levels in wind power development among countries, and they must show willingness to gain

“ Successful cooperation in realising the BSR meshed grid within the next 25+ years represents a huge overall challenge.”

from mutual economic and learning potential”, said Ponder and Krupp in their concluding remarks.

* IKEM Research Associate Julia Sandén participated in the interview, and some quotes do originate from her.

Ideally Ponder added that future meshed grid development in the BSR should ideally in the starting phase commence with at least three countries: “Important is to look carefully at current operational and future (planned) offshore projects. The southern Baltics is than perhaps best suited considering its current offshore wind power development status, existing infrastructure and accumulated track record experiences. My preference for further incremental steps as part of the implementation process is organic growth. This should grow in parallel with framework development focused at legal, economic, and physical grid systems harmonization within and in between member states.”

She said it to be clear that such major long-term processes require careful

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CABLE SOLUTIONS

Preparation is key to minimise cable downtime

Cable faults pose a huge challenge for the offshore wind industry. Discovering a defect or malfunction and localising it are just the start of a long road to fixing the problem.

Being prepared is of great importance to minimise downtime. VBMS and EDS gathered the whole industry to share their best practices in this matter. Offshore WIND spoke to VBMS who have launched a game-changing framework together with EDS.

“There have been more subsea cable faults than anyone could have predicted. As an industry we needed to come together, get the issues out into the open and come up with short and long term solutions in order to

Jack Wattel

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Offshore WIND | NO. 04 2017

reduce the levelised cost of energy by increasing availability and reliability of cable systems”, says Jack Wattel, Director Commerce at VBMS. Wattel is overall commercially responsible for the services VBMS offers the market.

Boskalis subsidiary VBMS, a subsea cable installer, has over the years come to offer complete cable solutions, from supplying, trenching and installing cables to also repairing them: in deep and shallow waters as well as the transition onto land. During the interview he elaborated on VBMS’ Cable Integrity Solutions including the “Prepare to Repair” framework; a model that promotes critical preparations such as procurement and engineering to be carried out upfront, ensuring that if a cable fails, arrangements are in place and the repair process can be started immediately, massively minimising downtime.

Preferably lasting a lifetime “Under the denominator “Prevent to Repair”, we now work together with EDS on a maintenance programme for cables for the entire service life of an offshore wind farm. With this, we extend our services to offering corrective maintenance and preventative repairs.

This form of service provision is based on the deployment of highly advanced EDS monitoring systems.

Customers want as little downtime as possible during the lifetime of their cables. The cost of prevention should be balanced against costs of damage and loss of revenue at a later stage.

Worst case scenario, if a cable is damaged and no longer works, much downtime and costs can be limited if the preventative research has been done.

With a framework in place they do not have to go through the procurement process and entire engineering process at the time of a fault.”

“If there has been zero preparation, the whole process is lengthier and can stretch to three or even to four months”, comments Wattel. It also depends on how fast the flaw can be found and what caused it. “Finding the fault in the cable starts onshore. Common cable faults often happen from outside factors though production faults do happen.

Faults could be caused by anchors or seabed movement though sometimes cables, like any other product, simply have internal faults. If the range of the possible problem is around 300 metres that means taking along a lot of spare cable, but if you can accurately pinpoint the problem it helps. When a piece of faulty cable has been removed for repair, we always send it off to be analysed.”

Swedish state owned energy company Vattenfall, who both owns and operates large offshore wind farms in, among

others, the United Kingdom, Denmark, Germany and Sweden, are one of the companies who have a framework agreement with VBMS. Kerstin Wessel, Marine Risk Manager at Vattenfall, comments: “We have framework agreements with various partners, one of which is VBMS.” Part of her job is to work on the details of the frameworks.

Wessel: “As a developer we work with three internal pillars that safeguard our cables and one external pillar, being the framework agreements for cable repair. The first of the internal pillars is a nominated taskforce who tackle the necessary first steps in case of a cable event and manages all cable repair works.”

The next element is that Vattenfall makes sure they have all the required technical site information, up-to-date, regarding soil statistics and the location of the cable, drawings, unexploded

ordnances and such, so time is not lost when a cable requires repairing.

“The last pillar”, continues Wessel, “is having the right spare parts to conduct repair works, including joints, spare cables or hang-offs, depending on the specific fault.,” Vattenfall also maintains regular training of their inhouse taskforce team.

“ Get the issues out into the open and come up with short and long term solutions.”

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agreement. Generally our aim with these framework agreements is to try to pinpoint the problem with the cable asap and also get the call-off from the framework agreement signed within two weeks. If weather is favourable we can also hope to have the problem solved within another few weeks. This relies on the availability of the vessels of our partners and site specific challenges. What makes these types of partnerships, with among others VBMS, valuable is being able to respond quickly at an agreed price. So you are not losing time in negotiations for weeks with downtime on your turbine.”

In all VBMS and EDS estimate that their solutions mean that cable repairs could be completed up to 70 per cent faster.

And any gain in the current climate is one to be taken very seriously.

Kerstin Wessel-Vattenfall

Availability Another important condition of the “Prepare to Repair” concept is the direct availability of vessels and spare parts. VBMS has three cable-laying vessels and several barges they can mobilise to carry out the repair. In case these vessels are unavailable, VBMS has access to the most suitable vessel or barge available within the Boskalis fleet or the market. The vessel choice could be influenced by geographical location, water depth, environmental conditions, season etc.

Repair works offshore in shallow and deeper waters offer their own challenges. Large cable-laying vessels cannot work in shallow waters, so you need barges or vessels that can run aground or work with very little

bottom clearance, as VBMS has. In addition, for shallow waters winter periods offer extra difficulties due to reduced workability. Recently VBMS also established solutions for Spare Part Management, which makes it possible for customers to stall their cable and joints with VBMS, further limiting any downtime. Wattel: “This offers the added value of being able to head out as soon as possible with the correct cable and other spares, sometime even within two weeks or faster.” Next to that, VBMS and its partner EDS have also invested in a universal cable joint that can be used to join various cables from different clients and manufacturers. Another win on the side of cables.

“ As a developer we work with three internal pillars that safeguard our cables and one external pillar, being the framework agreements for cable repair.”

Wessel: “Pinpointing the location of the cable fault is part of the framework

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Borssele 1, 2, 3 & 4 This is what we know

The Dutch Government is working on the realisation of five wind farms, which are currently among the largest offshore wind projects worldwide. An aim is also to achieve more cost reduction, which will not only promote the transition towards renewable energy, but will also prove beneficial to the inhabitants and industry of the Netherlands, and the Dutch economy generally.

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Offshore WIND | NO. 04 2017

“The realisation of the offshore wind farms is a boost for the industry.”

Energy Agreement for Sustainable Growth, agreed by the government with employers organisations, trade unions, environmental organisations and others, sets out key actions and goals for energy conservation, boosting energy supply from renewable sources and job creation. “The government regards the agreement as a major step towards achieving a fully sustainable energy supply. The agreement sets a target for 14 per cent of all energy to be generated from renewable sources by 2020, rising to 16 per cent by 2023. Offshore wind energy will play a significant role in meeting the targets.

The government wants cumulative installed offshore wind capacity to reach 4,500 MW by 2023, up from the 1,000 MW currently operational or under construction”, as the government explains on their website.

Borssele 1 & 2

Princess Amalia Wind Farm

“The realisation of the offshore wind farms is a boost for the industry. We expect that by 2020 around 10,000 jobs will be created by these projects. Dutch industry is involved in the construction of almost all offshore wind farms in Europe. Last week the Government presented the Energy Agenda, which sets out our route towards a low carbon energy supply. The results of this latest

tender demonstrates that the energy transition offers ample economic opportunities,” Minister Kamp of Economic Affairs said.

In the coming years, the Netherlands is to become less dependent on coal, oil and gas, while securing the country’s energy supply and keeping energy costs under control. The

Just a year ago, the world was reeling from the winning bid DONG Energy put in for Borssele 1 & 2. The competition was fierce to secure the permit and associated subsidy to build and operate the wind farm. In the end 38 bids were handed in The site is expected to be ready mid-2020 and will be constructed more than 22 kilometres off the coast of the Southern Dutch province of Zeeland.

Recently, DONG Energy decided to set up an operation and maintenance base for its 752MW Borssele 1 & 2 project at the Vlissingen port. The developer has signed a Letter of Intent with Zeeland Seaports, with both parties agreeing on further development of a specific location in Vlissingen Buitenhaven in the coming months.

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“We look forward to settling in the province of Zeeland and contributing to further regional economic development and long-term employment.”

36

A year ago, Kamp, said: “Worldwide it has never happened before that an offshore wind farm can be built at such low cost. The Dutch system in which companies have to compete with each other while the government regulates all conditions for building the wind farm has proved to be very successful. This reduction of cost represents a major breakthrough in the transition to more sustainable energy. Over the next few years, five of the largest wind farms worldwide in the world will be built in the Netherlands. With the development of offshore wind farms, we are building a new economic sector. The development of offshore wind farms has already created around 4,000 jobs in the Netherlands, such as in manufacturing, construction and research. This is expected to grow to 10,000 jobs by 2020.” The ports of Zeeland will be quite busy in the next coming years. Now, just over a year later and the offshore wind industry has become a different ballgame, with even subsidy-free bids becoming a realisation.

Claus Bøjle Møller, Programme Director for Borssele 1 & 2 at DONG Energy: “Vlissingen offers an excellent location for our O&M base in terms of onshore and offshore logistics as well as maritime services for the construction and operation of our new wind farm.”

Borssele 3 & 4

Jasper Vis, Country Manager for DONG Energy Netherlands, said: “We look forward to settling in the province of Zeeland and contributing to further regional economic development and long-term employment. We will obviously enter into a dialogue with companies in the region and our future neighbours to explore the options for cooperation.”

The second offshore wind farm bid was won by a Dutch consortium consisting of Shell, Van Oord, Eneco and Mitsubishi. This site is expected to be constructed and operated with a subsidy of just 0.3 billion EUR. Making the subsidy savings even higher than for the first 700 MW wind farm. It is expected that this wind farm can be operated without subsidy after around seven and half years.

Next to that, Dutch transmission system operator TenneT TSO B.V. and the Schiedam-based HSM Offshore have cut the first steel for the Borssele Alpha offshore transformer station and have signed a contract for the construction of the Borssele Beta platform. The 700MW Borssele Alpha and the 700MW Borssele Beta platforms will link up the wind farms to be built offshore at Borssele in the south-west of the Netherlands. HSM Offshore, part of the ANDUS group, will undertake the engineering, procurement, construction, transport, installation, connection and testing of the offshore transformer stations under EPCI contracts.

The Dutch government commented: “In total, 26 bids from seven parties/ consortia were received in the tender to secure permits and an associated SDE+ subsidy for the two projects at Borssele Wind Farm Site III and IV. The maximum subsidy available for this tender was capped at 11.975 Euro cents per kilowatt-hour. This amount excludes costs for connecting the wind farm to the electricity grid (which is the responsibility of state TSO TenneT).

The winning consortium bid 5.45 Euro cents per kilowatt-hour. By comparison, DONG Energy Borssele 1 BV won the previous tender with a price of 7.27 Euro cents per kilowatt-hour.”

Offshore WIND | NO. 04 2017

Minister Kamp of Economic Affairs said: “If the electricity price develops as we expect, in 7.5 years’ time subsidies will no longer be required for the production of electricity from offshore wind farms.

That brings the Government’s aim for renewables to compete with fossil fuels without subsidy within reach. The Netherlands is a front-runner in the development of offshore wind energy, creating many opportunities for the Dutch industry. With these winners this becomes even more clearly visible.”

The second Borssele site is also the second of the in total five planned wind farms, all expected to be operational by 2023. With each wind farm, offering 700MW electricity will be produced for a million households.

A helping hand One of the important factors of the Borssele bid was that the Dutch Government supplied companies with conditions required to build and operate wind farms at the lowest possible cost: a good location, detailed site data, water and wind conditions, permits and a grid connection. “The company that offers to build the wind farm at the lowest costs receives both a 15-year subsidy and 30-year permit to build and operate the wind farm and then decommission it.

This clear policy creates certainty and investor confidence for the offshore wind sector, whereby costs can then decrease further. The Government wants to boost this confidence with a longer term perspective for offshore wind energy as shown with the Energy Agenda presented last week”, as per the government.

Looking at the winning bid DONG handed in, a maximum price cap set at 12.4 Euro cent per kilowatt-hour was determined. Dong Energy submitted the lowest bid with an average of 7.27 Euro cent per kilowatt-hour. This was 5.1 Euro cent less than the originally estimated compensation, which resulted in a cost reduction of Euro 2.3 billion over the 15-year period that the SDE+ subsidy compensation is available.

“The government regulates all conditions for the construction of

the wind farms: the exact location, consents, and the connection to the electricity grid. Furthermore, the government makes an operating grant available. Producers receive financial compensation for the renewable energy they generate. In the subsidy and permit tenders, the lowest bid will be awarded.

themselves. Now TenneT, the Dutch transmission system operator, takes care of the offshore grid connections.”

Dutch geo-consultancy Fugro has begun an area survey of the 700MW

and any other obstacles. Fugro has conducted similar surveys in the past for the Borssele and Hollandse Kust (Zuid) wind farm zones. The results of the survey will be used by wind farm developers to prepare their bids for the tender to develop the wind farm zone.

The tender is scheduled to open in 2019.

Hollandse Kust (Noord) wind farm zone in the Dutch part of the North Sea. On behalf of the Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO.nl), Fugro is conducting a geophysical survey of the area to map the seabed and position of existing cables and pipelines, as well as the possible presence of shipwrecks

Hollandse Kust (Noord) is the last of the three North Sea wind farm zones to be surveyed as part of the Dutch government’s Offshore Wind Energy Roadmap programme. As stated by the RVO: “Wind farm zone Hollandse Kust (Zuid), 356 square kilometres in total, is divided into four sites.

So, what is next?

Eneco Luchterduinen

That company will receive a permit to build and operate the wind farm and granted the associated subsidy. This makes the construction of the wind farms cheaper. Previously, companies had to receive consents before they could compete for the grant and had to install the export cables to shore

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Gemini Wind Farm

Each site can accommodate 350MW. TSO TenneT will build grid connections and construct two offshore substations in the wind farm zone. WTG’s connect directly to these substations.

The tender for Sites I and II of the

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Hollandse Kust (Zuid) Wind Farm Zone are scheduled to be published in October 2017 and in the months there after. In this tender, market parties may submit a bid for the realisation of the wind farm without subsidies.

In the event this tender procedure fails

to yield an acceptable bid, a tender procedure that includes subsidies will be initiated. The tender for sites III & IV is planned to open and close in 2018.”

In the last quarter of 2017, the tender for Borssele V Innovation Site at 20MW will also open.

Further down the line, “Hollandse Kust (Noord) Wind Farm Zone (HKNWFZ) is located ten Nautical Miles off the west coast of the Netherlands. The total surface area (including maintenance and safety zones within the WFZ) is 304 square kilometres accommodating

700MW. “There will be one Wind Farm Site designated in the Wind Farm Zone (WFZ): Hollandse Kust (Noord) Wind Farm Site V. The existing Princess Amalia Wind Farm (120) lies within the WFZ. A tender to develop the Hollandse Kust (Noord) Wind Farm

Site V is scheduled to open in 2019.”

No rest for the wicked, they say.

Many interesting bids still to take place and in this changing offshore wind market, anything can happen.

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Installation vessel update

© Dick Hill

The challenges that the increase in dimensions and weight of especially foundations bring to the installation vessel sector have already been addressed in the October edition of Offshore WIND last year. Since then the Aeolus has been brought into Schiedam to have a new 1,600 tonne crane installed to replace the original 900 tonne crane.

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Offshore WIND | NO. 04 2017

“The Living Stone, the world’s most advanced multipurpose vessel with highly innovative cable-laying capabilities.”

The 216.5 metres long Orion will have accommodation sufficient for a total of 131 crew and client’s personnel. This vessel is being built in China by the Cosco Group and is due to be ready in 2019. Offshore WIND will be following the progress of this build with interest.

Proving useful There is no doubt that the Orion will prove to be a useful vessel for all the offshore industries in the future and other similar vessels are surely to be expected in the future. For the jack up vessels upgrading the lift capacity of the larger Wind Turbine Installation Vessels (WTIVs) such as the Innovation, Seafox 5 and the Seajacks Scylla must be in the plans of their owners to meet the inevitable challenges ahead.

However a new dimension in offshore lifting capacity has been added to the offshore wind sector with an order placed by GeoSea NV for a vessel with DP3 capability to be named Orion.

Fitted with a 5,000-tonne crane at more than 50 metres radius on a floating platform vessel with a total deck area of 8,000 square metres this vessel is

exactly what the industry needs in the installation vessel sector. The maximum lift height will be more than 170 metres which will be sufficient for the multi megawatt nacelle heights above sea level, the heaviest XXL monopile foundations, jackets, suction buckets and other wind turbine structures and components in the foreseeable future.

The WTIVs are, of course, not the only installation vessels that are involved in this industry. Cable installation of both inter-array and export cables connecting the turbines to the transformer station and connecting this to the grid onshore is as essential as is the work carried out by the jack up vessels. Offshore WIND spoke to Philip Scheers of the DEME Group company, Tideway BV, about their operations in the cable installation and protection sector.

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Designing their vessels to be multipurpose DP2 vessels, able to be adapted to carry out all the various tasks needed for sea bed operations in every offshore sector has been an important factor for DEME Group vessels. Last year this policy resulted in the launching of their DP3 MPV vessel ‘Living Stone’, which Tideway describe as “…the world’s most advanced multipurpose vessel with highly innovative cable-laying capabilities.”

Many projects Tideway is currently working on two offshore wind farms, the 309MW Rentel OWF in Belgium and the 396MW Merkur OWF in Germany contracted through balance of plant contracts held by their parent company, DEME Group.

The company is providing trenching, inter array cable laying and infilling operations, as well as rock dumping to prevent scouring around turbine foundations on both projects including cable procurement, and an additional separate contract for protection of the export cable on the Belgian wind farm with the associated beach land fall work.

The company has converted their rock installation fall pipe vessel Flintstone into a cable installation vessel for this contract, installing cables in Belgium for the Rentel wind farm. To make it ready for this trenching work their other fall

Hornsea Project One will be the project where the Living Stone will make her debut next year.

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pipe vessel, the Tideway Rollingstone, has been equipped with the CBT 1100, their new trenching tool, after being adapted for the vessel’s new role with a substantial up grade. After their work on these projects the two vessels are expected to return to their rock dumping duties on, for example, inter connectors, international cable links between countries.

rock. Accommodation for up to 100 personnel and a helipad enables the vessel to be used for housing personnel working elsewhere on the project.

A moon pool of almost 60 square metres with a 600-tonne crane makes further subsea equipment installation or maintenance possible. Dedicated space for ROV operations completes the options on deck.

Hornsea Project One will be the project where the Living Stone will make her debut next year. This DONG Energy wind farm project will produce 1.2 GW from 174 Siemens 7 MW turbines covering a seabed area of more than 30 square kilometres, 120 kilometres off the coast of South Yorkshire. The land fall for the export cables will be at Horseshoe Point, Marshchapel in North Lincolnshire. The total of approximately 450 kilometres of cable to this land fall from the three transformer substations and the connections between the transformer platforms in the wind farm will be laid by the Living Stone.

The Living Stone is not only multipurpose it is also innovative. As with other new builds ordered by companies in the DEME Group, including the GeoSea Orion, the dual-fuel main propulsion engines are the first of its type in the world to be fitted, using liquefied natural gas (LNG) as the main propulsion fuel. CO2 and NOx & SOx exhaust emissions are all within current and expected future requirements for vessels. These are both clean green vessels for a clean green energy industry.

Living Stone With delivery expected by the end of this year, today the Living Stone is completing the fitting of the equipment, all designed by Tideway’s own, in house, engineers, that makes her so advanced and able to install longer lengths of cables more efficiently and faster than other comparable cable installation vessels. The vessel has two cable carousels, each able to load 5,000 tonnes of cable, situated inside, below the main deck, and a further, third, carousel able to load 2,000 tonnes is possible to be fitted on deck if required, more than 200 kilometres of cable possible in one load. The 3,500 m² of open deck space is available for tools and equipment for handling cable ends, fitting protection systems and connecting the cable.

The Living Stone is a multipurpose vessel and the cable installation equipment is complimented by the new Tideway CBT 1100 sub-sea trenching tool to be launched using an A frame for loads up to 65 tonnes, a rock capacity sufficient for scouring protection around J-tubes, and the fall pipe to place the

Christening of Living Stone

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Bluestream introduces cost-saving inspection concept

Dutch-based company Bluestream, one of the leading service providers to the oil, gas and wind industry, has worked unceasingly over the past seven years to achieve the transformation from a traditional diving, rope access and ROV company, into an innovative offshore service provider that works proactively alongside its customers and delivers solutions that help save costs.

Digitization of inspection reports plays an important role at Bluestream.

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As far back as 2011, the management decided to make a definitive course change. Whereas in the beginning the core activity focus was on offshore implementation, today the target focus is the result of those activities, namely the reporting of inspections. In essence, how those inspections are carried out is of secondary importance. In carrying out its work the company can choose from a range of options including divers, ROV, rope access or with a UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle). Since the course change, innovation at Bluestream has been very much ‘business as usual’.

Independence is key The foundations for this development were laid with the formation of a specialised inspection department.

This stand-alone department was built up around specialists in carrying out inspection work, and has acquired independent status within the company.

When operators and clients from the oil, gas and wind sector now call in the services of Bluestream, they not only bring aboard an ‘operational’ contractor but at the same time a partner who contributes ideas on innovative and cost-saving options for inspecting and maintaining their high-value assets.

Adriean Winckers responsible for Business Development explained: “Our own specialists in the field of diving, ROVs, rope access and UAV partner Skeye are all died-in-the-wool experts in the business. They understand better than anyone that it is essential to integrate technology-based activities if innovations are to be successful, not just once but continuously. We are living in an era of major economic and social change. An era of (energy) transition in which vision is needed to carry us successfully into the future.

And an era in which we can create new content, in terms of quality. We achieve that through intensive, interdisciplinary collaboration both within Bluestream itself, and with our partners and customers. Teamwork is the basis for the joint development of the smartest and most cost-effective service.”

The eventual return from more than five years of investment, innovation and

initiation in an independent, servicedriven inspection department is that now, in 2017, Bluestream is seen as a contributing and forward thinking partner when it comes to the above and below water inspection of offshore platforms, pipelines, cable and renewable energy installations, such as wind turbines and offshore sub-stations. The package of services includes implementing inspection campaigns, processing and analysing the results and drawing up the reports of technical findings. The company is also capable of issuing advice and coordinating, identifying and implementing the best possible repair and maintenance method with the minimum impact on the production from a production platform or wind turbine. If the advice from the company is turned into a contract by the client, Bluestream then operates an integrated approach for the preparation and realisation of a safe and efficient repair or maintenance job.

Reporting made easy The change implemented by Bluestream within its organisation structure and package of services relates closely to the way in which it compiles its inspection reports, and subsequently submits them to the customer. Winckers continued: “The IT evolution and data explosion that have taken place over the past few years have been of enormous assistance to Bluestream. We are now capable of storing massive quantities of data on less hardware than in the past. Whereas in the past we thought in terms of a few megabytes, today we store many terabytes of data, for each and every project, all the more since our recordings are in HD quality. Thanks to the lightning advances in IT, Bluestream is currently in a position to simply and easily offer its customers whatever level of insight they require, into the status of their objects.

The reports still offer a brief summary, but if the customer wants to view a specific element or detail, then that information can also easily be retrieved.”

Quick decisions To make this possible, all the images from the cameras on the Bluestream ROVs are brought together and stored using a Digital Edge video inspection

system. As a result, we can supply customers with an extremely readerfriendly and accessible report, with super-sharp HD video reporting.

Frustratingly thick inspection reports with seemingly endless videos and thousands of photographs are now definitively a thing of the past. Today, clients receive a very specific report that tells them straight away exactly what they need to know. They have no wish to waste days wading through hundreds of pages of documentation or watching hours of videos or looking at photographs in an effort to clarify the status of their property.

With every digital report Bluestream now supplies a smart ‘client viewer’ that enables the customer to navigate quickly and easily through the entire report. With a few simple actions, he or she can quickly and easily ascertain in word and picture the precise situation, be it underwater or in an inaccessible location, for example on the underside of a platform. The main advantage is that based on these ‘visible’ facts, quick decisions are hugely facilitated. This form of innovation can also be combined with a flexible approach to submitting customised reports.

Contracts Since 2009, Bluestream has succeeded in winning more and more inspection contracts, firstly with Total, followed by GDF Suez (now Engie), Chevron (now PetroGas) and Dana. More recently these have been joined by TAQA, Oranje Nassau (ONE) and NAM. To keep all those customers satisfied, and to ensure their long-term loyalty, Bluestream felt the compulsion to further professionalise its work approach. This meant generating the ability to submit a report that offers the customer clear added value. To meet this challenge the company opted in favour of a project-based approach to all new inspection orders. First a complete planning timetable was drawn up, from preparation through to actual submission of the report. Commercial Manager Anton Janssens explained: “This was a real challenge not only requiring us to identify the ideal tools but also to bring about a sea change in our company culture. Instead of ‘doers’ we had to become ‘thinkers’.

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“Instead of 'doers' we had to become 'thinkers'.”

Whereas in the past our focus was on the diving and the ROV operations, we now had to switch to thinking about data and video management. The key questions were: how should we approach data management? How do we plan to streamline the transmission of data from ship to shore? How can we work more efficiently to quickly and simply offer our customers a clear insight into the results of our inspection? And how, within that process, can we achieve considerable cost savings while at the same time improving reliability of the results?”

Today, Bluestream has also attracted a large group of customers in the offshore wind sector. Inspections are now carried out on monopiles, substations and complete HVDC platforms in the same way, using the combination of inspection techniques to efficiently map out and report on the situation, entirely according to the customer’s specifications.

Key to success The answer to all the above questions was identified by Bluestream as being offered by Digital Edge Subsea, an UK company whose aim is to develop userfriendly digital systems for the ROV and diving industry. Digital Edge launched the EdgeDVR product, a digital SD video recorder and inspection system with a single channel. The decisive features for the men at Bluestream in choosing this inspection package was without doubt the fact that Digital Edge also supplied the already mentioned ‘client viewer’ system. The Bluestream management team was convinced that this was the key to the success of the inspection concept they had in mind.

In consultation with the product developers at Digital Edge, Bluestream set to work innovating and upgrading the digital video inspection system to what it has become today. With video imaging, the picture quality of which can be described

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as nothing short of impressive, a digital end report in the form of a hard disk, and the very important client viewer, what Bluestream effectively does is to provide its customers with a report in which the main focus is on potential non-conformities.

To make this possible, the Den Helderbased company has developed a number of highly defined procedures, that enable them to demonstrate that the information contained in the Bluestream report gives a true picture of the actual situation. No longer are detailed descriptions given of parts of the object that still look good and in which no problems are observed.

The full inspection results are of course still available, but the customer is primarily interested in the at-risk areas.

And those are the primary focus of the inspection report. Naturally backed up by the accompanying video images, with analyses based on potential risks.

Efficient operation Bluestream is currently responsible for monitoring and inspecting more than 200 offshore assets in the North Sea. Traditionally, large IRM vessels are deployed for inspection campaigns, with a team of divers and ROVs on board.

Bluestream has chosen instead to work with more compact and consequently far more cost-efficient vessels, in partnership with Vroon Offshore Services.

The company also offers its clients the

possibility of carrying out the inspections from the platform to be inspected, itself.

As part of this approach, all ROVs, launch systems and inspection systems are carefully ‘packed’ into specially designed containers. This idea of placing modular units on a ship or platform is another substantial contributor to considerable cost reductions.

Thanks to its success on the market, by smartly planning the IRM campaigns of the operators, Bluestream has made it possible to implement those campaigns more efficiently during the year, and with far shorter lead times. “You could describe this concept as entering into a long-term relationship with our customers, in which the priority is placed on service provision,” concluded Anton Janssens.

“All the operators have a common interest, namely complying with the requirements and standards and laws, combined with the obligation of reporting on any non-conformities in an object.

If these requirements are not fulfilled, the reputation of the operator or indeed the entire sector can be severely damaged.

Bluestream is extremely aware of the effect of its contribution on the sector. With that in mind, we are delighted to relieve our customers of their concerns while ensuring that the unavoidable costs for inspections are kept as low as possible.”

Contribution by Bluestream

Bluestream has also attracted a large group of customers in the offshore wind sector.

First-class offshore contracting solutions

Foundation Installation with Heavy Lift Vessel ‘Innovation’ at the Godewind 01 & 02 project

Monopile installation at the Northwind project

Wind Turbine installation with jack-up vessel ‘Neptune’ and boom lock system at the Kentish Flats Extension project

GeoSea nv Member of the DEME Group Haven 1025 - Scheldedijk 30 B-2070 Zwijndrecht, Belgium T +32 3 250 53 12 F +32 3 250 55 41 info.geosea@deme-group.com www.deme-group.com/geosea

GeoSea is a specialized company for (EPCI) offshore works, focused on the installation of wind turbine foundations and erection of turbines. Large jack-up platforms and drilling and piling rigs are our plants of choice for working in deep waters.

GeoSea offers first-class offshore contracting solutions to global clients. We have the skills, the technology and the equipment to perform in the most challenging marine environment. Always working closely with our clients, we understand what it takes to define and deliver a project costeffectively, safely and on time.

OFFSHORE WIND CONFERENCE

In the run up to the Offshore WIND Conference we selected some of the speakers to answer a few questions regarding their participation. For more information relating to the programme and speaker faculty, head to www.offshorewindconference.biz.

Q&A with

David Molenaar Chief Executive Officer, Siemens Wind Power Netherlands Speaker during Offshore WIND Conference | session: Human Capital

DAVID MOLENAAR

What are the immediate human capital challenges?

We need more speed to achieve a nationwide educational approach for offshore wind technicians, a specific service wind (on land and on sea) paragraph in the Working Hours Act. Furthermore, to solve the ‘who does provide the GWO training’ question (either the schools or the sector?) which is required to enable students to have a valuable on-site training and education during internships.

The growing offshore wind market requires a new breed of personnel – who are they according to you?

I do not agree that we need a new breed of personnel. I believe we have to combine several groups in a smart way: including: experienced offshore wind technicians, experts from other sectors / fields and specially educated students.

What challenges are you finding in recruiting for Siemens Gamesa?

Our challenges lie mostly in recruiting the right persons that match the not always known and changing

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requirements. Finding the right locations for on the job trainings and creating the right quality mindset and safety culture.

What do you hope people will take-away from your contribution during Offshore WIND Conference?

That working in offshore wind is challenging and fun, that the sector needs best-in-class & motivated employees and students and also that we need your support to achieve a nationwide educational approach.

“ We need more speed to achieve a nationwide educational approach for offshore wind technicians.”

Q&A with

Pieter van Oord CEO Van Oord

Speaker during Offshore WIND Conference | opening session

PIETER VAN OORD

What future balance between fossil and renewable energy will the industry see 2050?

Most likely fossil fuels will remain an important part of our future energy mix for decades to come. The need for fossil fuels will be largely determined by the gross domestic product growth.

It is very difficult to predict the speed of these developments and the future balance between the different energy sources. Countries and regions will have to find their own optimal mix of both fossil and renewable energy solutions to cope with changes and upcoming disruptive technologies.

What is the impact of the cost reduction within offshore wind on the supply chain?

“It is clear that offshore wind has become a mainstream energy source.”

In recent years, the supply chain has achieved cost reduction and efficiency, because sufficient projects (in market volume) have been on the market. Market driven government policy and tender and auction system are crucial for this industry.

How will offshore wind survive in a lower-for-longer price period?

offshore wind tenders in our minds, it is clear that offshore wind has become a mainstream energy source. It is evident that the total cost of wind is better than that of coal and gas power plants.

What do you hope people take-away from your contribution during Offshore WIND Conference?

I hope that people take away that times in energy are changing. That they feel the necessity of this change, while seeing opportunities at the same time. Offshore wind plays a major role in the energy transition in NorthWestern Europe. The conditions in this region (North Sea and Baltic) are very suitable for offshore wind, considering the favourable wind conditions.

The return of wind energy is significantly higher: for the generation of solar energy, our country has an average of 800 full load hours compared to more than 4000 full load hours for energy generation with wind at sea. On top of that, the geotechnical conditions in North-Western Europe are perfect; the sand has a good structure for the foundations and the water is shallow.

In my opinion, this is not a good question. With the results of the large

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Q&A with

Davide Coppola Business Applications Department, European Space Agency

What is the relation between European Space Agency and offshore wind industry?

The Integrated Application Promotion (IAP) programme of the European Space Agency (ESA) supports the development, implementation and pilot operations of downstream space-based services. The program acts as honest broker between user communities, space industry and service providers to help establish space-based applications addressing customers and users’ needs.

To date, IAP has supported more than 20 projects in the energy domain as a whole, involving offshore wind industry as user / potential customers of some of the proposed services. More details at: https://business.esa.int/

What can ESA assist in improving future offshore wind farms and offshore wind related applications? What type of cooperation if ESA looking for with the offshore wind industry?

ESA’s IAP on-going projects in the offshore wind energy can already offer cost-efficient solutions to address many requirements related to offshore wind farms selection and planning, and their operation.

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Furthermore, ESA’s IAP is open for potential users and customers interested in partnering with ESA to assess whether their specific requirements could be addressed by space based capabilities, and jointly set-up new initiatives to develop and demonstrate such newly required space based applications.

What do you hope people will take-away from your contribution during Offshore WIND Conference?

DAVIDE COPPOLA

Speaker during Offshore WIND Conference | session: Space meets Winds

We would like that audience will get an overview of the tremendous potential space can provide in the domain of offshore wind energy, as well as of the cooperation opportunities offered by the ESA’s IAP programme for developing new services addressing their needs.

“ IAP has supported more than 20 projects in the energy domain as a whole, involving offshore wind industry as user.”

PROGRAMME

Ready to tackle the challenges?

Leading the way! Offshore WIND Conference 2017 will focus on the opportunities for the offshore wind sector for the short, medium and long term. What will upcoming tenders offer the supply chain (short term)? What are the trends and opportunities within the next decade? Subtopics such as cost reduction, innovations, subsidy and cooperation with the oil and gas will also be tackled.

Monday 9 October 2017 13:00

Welcome by chairman day 1: Bent Thambo Jensen, CCO, Ziton

Bent Thambo Jensen

has held a

number of commercial positions in the wind industry prior to becoming CCO of ZITON A/S in October 2015. He holds a MA in Business, Language and Culture (Cand.

Negot.) from Syddansk University and has has extensive knowledge in BTB sales management and trading. He is focused on BTB sales and negotiation, Business Development and Customer Relations and works dedicated to optimise and improve the industry on both a practical and a commercial level

13:05

Opening session: Can electricity market cannibalisation be cured?

Will offshore wind become a victim of its own succes? The cannibalization of the electricity market is a real thing. With a renewable generation of the rise and wind that will continue to blow, what will happen when market prices fall? Will we be eating up our own investment? This opening session will provide food for thought.

Speakers: • Pieter van Oord, CEO, Van Oord

• Bent Christensen, Head of Cost of Energy and Head of Project Management, Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy

Pieter van Oord

started his career

in 1989 at VOPAK. In 1992 he was assigned to Chicago as Commercial Manager. In 1994 he joined Van Oord ACZ. He spent six years in the UK as Managing Director.

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In 2001 he became Managing Director of the Offshore Divison. After the merger between Van Oord ACZ and Ballast Ham Dredging in 2005 he was appointed Managing Director of the Middle East based in Dubai.

In this role he was responsible for the construction of the “Palm Island”.

In 2007 he was appointed to the Board and in 2008 appointed as CEO.

Bent Christensen

Jasper Vis

is Country Manager for

DONG Energy in the Netherlands.

He has been working for DONG Energy since 2012. Mr. Vis is a member of the general board of the Dutch wind energy association NWEA. Previously, he worked a.o. at TAQA Energy, consultancy Ecofys, the Dutch NGO ‘Nature& Environment’ and the Dutch Ministry of Environment.

is Head of

Cost of Energy and Head of Project Management at Siemens Gamesa. He is an executive with more than 30 years of international experience from the energy sector where he has filled more challenging positions.He has worked with almost all kind of energy technologies and his experience with wind power goes back to 1988. Bent Christensen has been responsible for or involved in the development and construction of more than 30 large off- and on-shore wind farms.

Session: The road ahead What can we do now? A question the Bent Thambo Jensen will pose this impressive line-up of speakers. Challenging propositions will be fire at these speakers aimed at finding out what we can do today, that will assist the offshore wind industry in the future.

Speakers:

• Jasper Vis, Country Manager, DONG Energy Netherlands

• Lars Kristensen, Senior Vice President Wind & Renewable Energy, Bladt Industries

• Peter Robert, Business Development Manager Offshore Wind, Damen • Michel Kurstjens, CCO, SIF Group

Lars Kristensen

is Senior Vice President

for the Wind & Renewable Energy Division at Bladt Industries, and he has a Bachelor of Electronic -Engineering and an E-MBA in Change Management.

Lars is responsible for the operation and strategic development of the W&R Division. Lars is passionate about understanding customers’ “needs and pains” providing the customers with real value. For Lars, it is important that Bladt as a supplier goes that extra mile together with the customer to understand and optimise their end product.

13:30

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Peter Robert

has built up an extensive

maritime background in the last 20 years, amongst that sailing as a Naval Officer for more than ten years. He joined Damen Shipyards Group in 2011 as Business Development Manager to grow the business in the offshore wind market.

Since 2016 he is Director Business Development & Market Intelligence.

Damen has the ambition to keep on growing in different Product Market Combinations by introducing new products and services by listening

closely to our customers and by engaging within the value chain.

It has proven to be a successful approach for the Damen Shipyards Group.

young and experienced engineers who passionately work on both the realisation of Siemens’ offshore wind farms as well as determining its strategy how to lower the life cycle cost of offshore wind further.

Michel Kurstjens

joined Sif Group

as CCO in April 2013. He is a mechanical engineer who started his career in 1991 as design-engineer and took on sales in an industrial/technical environment shortly after. Over the years, he gained 24 years of technical and international sales experience, sales management and general management experience in various technical niche companies.

Aligning market opportunities and internal operations has led to revenue and profit growth of the companies he has worked for throughout his career.

14:15 Session: Human capital issues A new breed of offshore wind personel is on the rise. The government and many association are working to get more people involved in offshore wind and the challenges in oil and gas can also mean a supplement to the offshore wind workforce. Two experts share their views on human capital within offshore wind.

Speakers

• David Molenaar, Chief Executive Officer of the Siemens Wind Power, Siemens Gamesa

• Paul Boumans, Commercial Director, Falck Netherlands

David Molenaar

is Chief Executive

Officer of the Siemens Wind Power in The Netherlands. He also leads a team of

15:00

Refreshment Break

15:30

Session: Trial & Triumph Bidding Systems Tenders and bidding systems have proven to be hot topics over the past few months. From going under the 100 euro per kilowatt hour to even going subsidy free. Where do the future challenges lie and can further cost reduction be met by technological advance? In a panel discussion, leading companies will discuss their points of view and suggestions.

Panellists

• Michael van der Heijden, founder, Amsterdam Capital Partners Thor Ugelvig Petersen, Head of Department • Dr. for Ports and Offshore Technology, DHI Group

• Christoph Mertens, CEO, Summit Renewable Power Europe

• Frank Coenen, Owner and Member Board of Directors, InControl

Michael van der Heijden

is

founder and co-owner of Amsterdam Capital Partners (Amscap), a financing boutique specialised in offshore wind.

Amscap was financial advisor to the 396MW Merkur project in Germany, where Michael acted was the project director responsible for the overall structuring and financing of this EUR 1.8 billion project. Amscap was also appointed financial advisor to a consortium bidding for the two 1.4GW Borssele offshore wind tenders in the Netherlands.

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Before Amscap, Michael was the Managing Director at Typhoon Offshore, where he was responsible for the successful structuring and arranging of the EUR 2.8 billion Gemini financing package.

technical director he was responsible for the German CCGT portfolio of Alpiq. Christoph started his career originally at RWE Power.

16:30 Session: Upcoming Talent New ideas, daring innovation and young blood are all elements the offshore wind infustry will remain in need of. This is why several up and comers will pitch their ideas.

Thor Ugelvig Petersen

is Head

of Department at DHI in the Department for Ports and Offshore Technology.

He graduated with MSc and PhD from the Technical University of Denmark with focus on marine structures and offshore wind. He has seven years of experience in the field of offshore and coastal engineering, with emphasis on fluid-structure-seabed interaction including physical and numerical modelling.

He has done designand consultancy work for projects in Denmark and abroad including physical- and numerical modelling, digital solutions and handling of big data.

•M ax de Feber, student Offshore & Dredging Engineering, Delft Technical University •R ene Bos, Graduate Delft University of Technology and starter at Eneco

Max Feberstart

Rene Bos Christoph Mertens

is CEO of Summit

Renewable Power Europe (SRP), a wholly owned subsidiary of Sumitomo Corporation Japan. On behalf of Sumitomo Corporation, SRP takes global responsibility for its mother company’s investments in offshore wind projects, manages the projects and nominates directors. In his previous occupations, Christoph assumed several leading positions in the energy sector. As managing director he developed the German offshore wind branches of DONG Energy and DNV Germany. As

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is a MSc student

Offshore & Dredging Engineering from Delft University of Technology. He is currently working on the last part of his innovative master thesis, which is all about applying Augmented Reality (not VR!) in the maritime industry. Being an enthusiastic student, ready to enter the energy industry, he will give you an inspiring pitch.

recently completed his PhD

research at Delft University of Technology.

As part of the European Innwind project, he studied the spatial structure of extreme wind gusts and how they affect the design of large rotors. Since May 2017, René works as a project engineer at Eneco Wind.

17:00 Closing remarks Chairman day 1 Bent Thambo Jenssen followed by networking drinks

Tuesday 10 October 2017 09:00

Welcome by Chairman day 2: Mike Blanch, Associate Director, BVG Associates

Mike Blanch

leads technology strategy,

due diligence and R&D at BVGA. He has over 26 years’ experience advising developers, financiers, government, enablers, and start-ups. He has overseen and conducted much wind turbine research first hand and once managed a test site.He models the economics of offshore wind, onshore wind and marine energy sectors including nonenergy sectors, including the impact of innovation. He undertakes technical assurance, monitoring and assessment of R&D programmes, FMEA and assessment of devices. In 2012-13, Mike was seconded into BIS to develop and begin the implementation of the Offshore Wind Industrial Strategy (published August 2013).

09:15

Session: Future Forecast: Reading the map How will the industry fare up to 2050?

Can the industry turn agreements into reality?

Several ten minute presentations will offer insights into country specific visions of the future.

Speakers •D aiva Matoniene, Rapporteur on the revised renewable energy directive and the internal electricity market, European Committee of the Regions •S imon Dilks, Head of Nuclear and Renewables innovation Department Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS) •L eo de Vrees, Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure & Environment

Daiva Matoniene

has more than ten

years of experience in the energy efficiency sector and in creating innovative financial instrument in Lithuania. From 2012 to 2016 she was Vice-minister Ministry of Environment in Lithuania. Also she has been a member of the Lithuanian Delegation in the EU Committee of the Regions (CoR) since 2010. As CoR rapporteur she works on key opinions such as ‘Renewable energy and the internal electricity market’ (2017) and the ‘EU sustainable heating and cooling system strategy’ (2016).

Simon Dilks

has been working in public

sector energy policy since 2004 focusing on regulation, innovation and international negotiations.He’s pottered around the world dealing with international energy policy, covering a multitude of subjects, technologies and countries. He has led on UK civil nuclear innovation policy for the last six years as a key player in re-invigorate the UK’s nuclear research landscape.

Recently he has taken on responsibility for BEIS renewables innovation programme including leadership of the UK’s coordinating role in the European DemoWind and BESTF bioenergy Eranet programmes.

Leo de Vrees

has a long history in

marine matters. He is co-chairing a Support Group of North Sea countries on MSP and environmental impacts related to offshore wind energy development.

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Marine ingenuity

Offshore Wind Projects In just two words, marine ingenuity, we express that we are passionate dredging and marine contractors with a worldwide innovative approach to meet your challenges.

Our people - who manage a versatile fleet - specialise in dredging, marine engineering and offshore projects (oil, gas and wind).

www.vanoord.com

Sustainable EPC and Marine Contractors

He is core-member of the team who developed the policy for the North Sea. He was involved in the development of the UNESCO/IOC guidelines on MSP. From 2010 – 2014 he worked for the marine unit of DG Environment of the European Commission on the implementation of the Marine Strategy.

Other topics he worked on are: SEA, licensing wind farms, Natura2000.

10:15 Refreshment Break

10:45

Session Oil, gas and wind: Friend or foe.

This session will start with a kick-off from Rene Peters, Director Gas Technology, TNO Energy, after which a lively panel discussion will take place.

Speakers: •R ene Peters, Director Gas Technology, TNO Energy •A rnold Groot, General Manager, Circular Energy •E rnst van Zuijlen, Director, GROW

12:00

Session: Space meets wind

Space Technology meets offshore wind.

How can these two industries work together to improve future offshore wind farms and appplications?

Speaker: Davide Coppela, Downstream Business Applications Department, European Space Agency

Davide Coppola

has been working

at the European Space Agency (ESA) Integrated Application Promotion Programme (IAP) since 2007. He has a long standing

experience as project manager and he has been in charge of more than 30 projects in various domains, including Energy, Health, Maritime & Offshore, Safety & Security, etc.

Lately Davide has been coordinating the assessment of market opportunities for space based applications in the energy sector for the ESA Downstream Business Application Department.

12:30 Closing remarks by Chairman day 2: Mike Blanch, Associate Director, BVG Associates

Delegates of the Offshore WIND Conference receive free access to the Offshore Energy Exhibition & Conference. Join 650+ exhibitors and 12,000 visitors coming from all areas of the offshore energy mix.

PRACTICAL INFORMATION Location: Offshore WIND Conference & Offshore Energy Exhibition & Conference Amsterdam RAI, Amtrium, Entrance L Europaplein 22 1078 GZ Amsterdam The Netherlands Wesbites: www.offshorewindconference.biz www.offshore-energy.biz Secure your seat!

Please note: As offshore WIND Conference is held as part of Offshore Energy 2017 delegate tickets are sold via Offshore Energy.

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OFFSHOREBREEZES

powered by

Short news selection of hot topics from offshoreWIND.biz

U.S. OIL & GAS LIFTBOAT PROVIDER BOOSTS FLEET WITH OFFSHORE WIND INSTALLATION VESSEL All Coast, a provider of liftboats to the U.S. oil and gas industry, has announced that it will add a new vessel to its fleet with which it will enter the U.S. offshore wind market.

The vessel will be used for installation and maintenance of offshore wind farms. The company has collaborated with A. K. Suda for the optimisation of the vessel design, based on the SUDA model JG6000P, an optimised design of a special-purpose liftboat that can carry up to four 8MW complete wind turbines and with sufficient crane capacity to install them. Its design has been optimised by A. K. Suda to work within the restrictions presented at different staging ports in the U.S. The vessel will be Jones Act-compliant: U.S. built, owned, flagged and operated. To be workable, it had to be competitive in cost, A. K. Suda stated, adding that this vessel is comparable in cost to build in the U.S. compared to existing vessels built in, for example, the Far East.

SEMCO, a Louisiana-based shipyard, is in charge of building the vessel. Ajay Suda, Managing Director, said: “We have priced the vessel in the U.S. and in the Far East.

Based on information available, we are confident that it is cheaper to build in the U.S. rather than (say) in the Far East.”

Vessels

MHI VESTAS DISMANTLES ØSTERILD PROTOTYPE AFTER FIRE INCIDENT MHI Vestas took down its V164 prototype in Østerild on 15 August, after the wind turbine caught fire on 4 August and the turbine manufacturer started an investigation to determine the root cause of the incident. The investigation unit recommended to MHI Vestas that the safest and most effective way to determine the root cause is to take the turbine down. The root cause has not yet been determined and the company said it would continue the investigation in earnest now that the turbine is down. There is no timetable for the conclusion of the investigation. Torben Hvid Larsen, Chief Technology Officer at MHI Vestas, said: “We looked at many different scenarios with the investigative teams on how best to determine and confirm the root cause of the incident. We are following the recommendation of the lead investigators who have tremendous expertise in this area and have decided this is the best course of action for the investigation to continue.” MHI Vestas did not specify the V164 prototype capacity; however, according to the information on the Østerild Test Centre’s website, the recently launched 9.5MW unit is the V164 model being tested at the site.

Turbines

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BOSKALIS BUYS GARDLINE GROUP Royal Boskalis Westminster N.V. has acquired all shares of the UK-based Gardline Group. Gardline Group’s main activities include marine geophysical surveys, offshore geotechnical services and environmental surveys.

Boskalis said that this acquisition is in line with the company’s ”strategic ambition to build a position in the offshore survey market and become a specialist provider of subsea geotechnical surveys with an exposure to the renewables market and the early cyclical oil and gas market.” Gardline operates 15 survey-related vessels in addition to 25 smaller vessels including crew transfer vessels and survey catamarans. Gardline’s principal offices are located in Great Yarmouth, with further activities in the USA, Brazil and Singapore. The company currently employs approximately 750 employees including a pool of 100 surveyors. Its core geographical market is Northwest Europe, where Gardline is the main competitor of Fugro in marine surveys, Boskalis said.

The consideration paid including assumed debt amounts to approximately GBP 40 million, Boskalis said.

Company news

GEOSEA FINALISES A2SEA BUY GeoSea, part of DEME Group, has completed the acquisition of A2SEA from DONG Energy and Siemens.

A2SEA, operating out of Denmark, is specialised in offshore wind turbine installations. The company has about 160 employees and operates the offshore installation vessels Sea Challenger and Sea Installer.

The activities of A2SEA represent a strong and complementary fit with GeoSea’s operations, GeoSea said, adding that the combined organisation will be well positioned to provide a broader range of integrated services and solutions to offshore wind energy customers. A2SEA recently completed installation of turbines on Burbo Bank Extension and is currently installing turbines at the Dudgeon offshore wind farm and the Race Bank offshore wind farm.

Upcoming projects include turbine installation on Arkona OWF, Hornsea Project One, Horns Rev 3 and East Anglia ONE. Company news

IRELAND REVEALS BIG OFFSHORE WIND PLANS Ireland’s state owned electricity company Electricity Supply Board (ESB) is seeking expressions of interest for the provision of renewable energy marine services related to offshore wind farms. ESB plans to develop or acquire the offshore wind farms commencing in 2018, through a pipeline of projects, which are currently going through the consenting process. The size of individual projects is expected to range between 200MW and 500MW, although some projects could be larger, ESB said, and the location of these initial offshore wind farms is expected to be in the Irish Sea. The high level scope of services includes but is

not limited to offshore geophysical surveys; geotechnical investigation and sampling, marine archaeological survey; sourcing and deploying of floating Lidar wind measurement buoys; desktop UXO risk assessment and report; site characterisation assessment; ground model development; complete factual and interpretive reporting; and risk assessments and method statements development. The services relate to offshore wind farms acquired, developed or built during the term of the framework, including joint venture or subsidiary developments. The tender will remain open until 2 October 2017.

Projects

TAIWAN DELEGATION VISITS ORMONDE OWF DURING OFFSHORE WIND FACT FINDING MISSION ODE, Northland Power and Yushan Energy jointly hosted a delegation of Civic Leaders and industrialists from Taiwan during their recent offshore wind fact finding mission to the UK. The mission was led by the Chinese International Economic Cooperation Association and supported by the UK’s Department for International Trade. Representatives from Changhua County and industry leaders from the engineering, finance and power generation communities, met with Northland Power, Yushan Energy, ODE and leaders from Barrow Council to discuss the impact that the Ormonde Offshore Wind Farm had on the Barrow community before visiting the Operations Support Base and travelling offshore to view the wind farm. The Taiwanese visitors had a chance to learn about the construction of the offshore wind farm, its support base and how the operation and maintenance aspects of the wind farm have benefited the local economy during and following the construction period. The delegation found other similarities in the projects with regard to the investment in port facilities, today Barrow’s Ramsden Dock is the centre for operations and maintenance support for four offshore wind farms but a tidal range of over ten metres and harbour walls dating from the late 1800’s posed challenges during construction. The solution of a floating pontoon that does not transfer load to the aged sea walls is one that may find an application in the ports and harbours of Changhua County.

Research

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OFFSHOREBREEZES

GERMAN OFFSHORE WIND FARMS MAINTAIN RECORDBREAKING MOMENTUM

E.ON WINS ROBIN RIGG DISPUTE AGAINST MT HØJGAARD

Offshore wind farms in Germany delivered 8.8 billion kWh of electricity to the grid in the first six months of 2017, a 47.50 percent increase compared to 5.9 billion kWh of electricity delivered in the first half of 2016. In the second quarter of 2016, German offshore wind farms delivered 4 billion kWh of green electricity. The rise in the generation is most likely due to an increase in offshore wind capacity and favourable wind conditions. Overall, electricity generated from renewable sources accounted for 35 percent of Germany’s consumption in the first half of 2017, the highest mark ever recorded. Renewable energies’ share was up two percentage points compared to the same period a year earlier. The main sources of the renewably sourced energy were onshore wind (39 billion kWh), biomass (23 billion kWh) and solar (22 billion kWh). If the trend continues, German offshore wind farms could deliver more electricity in the first nine months of the year than in the entire 2016, which was in itself a record year in terms of the power generated and fed to the grid by the offshore wind farms. Offshore wind power saw the steepest growth out of any other form of renewably generated power, according to the data compiled by the Centre for Solar Energy and Hydrogen Research in Baden-Württemberg (ZSW) and the German Association of Energy and Water Industries (BDEW).

The UK Supreme Court has ruled against MT Højgaard (MTH) in the Robin Rigg offshore wind farm dispute and in favour of E.ON Climate and Renewables. This appeal arose from the fact that the foundation structures at the Robin Rigg wind farm in the Solway Firth, which were designed and installed by MTH, failed shortly after completion of the project. In November 2015, the UK Supreme Court approved E.ON’s application to appeal against a ruling in favour of MTH from April 2015 regarding the Robin Rigg dispute. The Supreme Court has now unanimously allowed E.ON’s appeal and has found MTH to be liable to cover the remedial costs.

The dispute concerned who bears the remedial costs in the sum of EUR 26.25m.

Projects

Legal

NEXANS BOOSTS CABLE-LAYING FLEET WITH HIGH CAPACITY NEW-BUILD Nexans has announced the start of construction of a new cable-laying vessel for submarine high voltage (HV) cable systems installation. The new ship, designed by consulting agency Skipsteknisk AS, comes with Dynamic Positioning (IMO class 3) capabilities. The laying equipment allows the vessel to perform complex installation operations of flexible products in shallow to deep water. The vessel covers the complete Nexans submarine product range, and has a 10 000-tonne capacity turntable. Being built by Uljanik Group, a Croatia-based shipyard, the high capacity Nexans vessel is designed for worldwide installation of large volumes of HVDC and HVAC cable systems, even in the most severe weather conditions, the company said. “The construction of this new cable-laying vessel is a fundamental milestone in our commitment to cleaner energy, “said Arnaud Poupart-Lafarge, Nexans CEO. “In this next exciting chapter of our capacity to meet customer expectations, the cutting-edge technology of the new ship will enable Nexans to support countries in their development of the unlimited potential of renewable power generation”. The new cable-laying vessel is expected to be delivered and will commence operations by the third quarter of 2020.

Vessels

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VENKO SECURES OFFSHORE WIND O&M CONTRACT

Following a competitive tender process, Venko Offshore has been awarded an offshore wind farm framework agreement for maintenance and integrity services to an undisclosed blue chip client. This latest contract based in the United Kingdom will include detailed condition surveys to all ageing offshore assets, technical and logistical support,

materials supply and coating repairs to fenders and safe access areas. “Venko is now the preferred partner for numerous sites across the UK, Netherlands and Germany,” Fraser Coull, UK Director for Venko Offshore, said. “We have completed numerous rectification programmes for mature substations and WTG assets that have reached the end of their existing warranty periods. Our wide ranging service provision assures the integrity and performance of our Client’s assets, safeguarding them while optimising operational lifecycles and supporting regulatory compliance.”

Contracts

GEOSEA PICKS HOULDER KIT FOR HORNS REV 3 GeoSea will use Houlder’s pile lifting tool on the Horns Rev 3 offshore wind farm in the Danish North Sea. GeoSea is in charge of installing the 49 foundations, and A2SEA, soon to be a subsidiary of GeoSea, will install the turbines at the site. Vattenfall’s Horns Rev 3 will consist of 49 MHI Vestas 8.3MW wind turbines with a total capacity of

TENNET AND HSM SIGN BORSSELE BETA CONTRACT, CUT FIRST STEEL FOR BORSSELE ALPHA Dutch transmission system operator TenneT TSO B.V. and the Schiedambased HSM Offshore have cut the first steel for the Borssele Alpha offshore transformer station and have signed a contract for the construction of the Borssele Beta platform. HSM Offshore, part of the ANDUS group, will undertake the engineering, procurement, construction, transport, installation, connection and testing of the offshore transformer stations under EPCI contracts. The 700MW Borssele Alpha and the 700MW Borssele Beta platforms will link up the wind farms to be built offshore at Borssele in the south-west

of the Netherlands. The Borssele Alpha and Beta platforms are the first large-scale grid connections to be constructed under the National Energy Agreement for offshore wind farms in the Netherlands. TenneT has been officially designated as the offshore grid operator in the Netherlands, and will contribute to fulfilment of the National Energy Agreement by developing offshore grid connections with a total capacity of at least 3,500MW during the period until 2023. The Borssele Alpha platform is scheduled for completion in 2019. The Borssele Beta platform is expected to be completed by 2020.

Grid

406.7MW. The wind farm covers an 88 square kilometre area 29–44 kilometres west of Houstrup Strand on Jutland’s west coast. “Our lifting tool has been designed for safer and faster offshore wind farm installation operations,” said James Russell, Houlder’s Marine Equipment Director.

“The remote controlled hook-up and release system engages directly with a foundation pile’s flange. This eliminates the need for additional lifting points or straps – the optimal solution where the lifting point overhangs the deck of the installation vessel or is out of reach. For the current project the tool will be configured to lift 6.5m diameter monopiles at 690t.”

Company news

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OFFSHOREBREEZES

OFFSHORE WIND EXPERTISE HUB RETURNS TO OEEC

U.S. OFFSHORE WIND PIPELINE TOPS 24GW

Join, listen, learn and network. Four words that must tickle your fancy! Would you like to know more about what is happening within the offshore wind industry? Listen to leading industry players talk about innovations and developments?

Then you must join the Offshore WIND Expertise Hub during the Offshore Energy Exhibition and Conference 2017 (OEEC)!

As of June 2017, the U.S. offshore wind project development pipeline includes 24,135MW of potential installed capacity, according to a report by the U.S. Energy Department’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). The U.S. offshore wind project pipeline includes 28 projects that are under construction, at financial close, approved, permits submitted, and undergoing planning, NREL said in the 2016 Offshore Wind Technologies Market Report. Of the U.S. projects in deeper waters, where traditional bottom-mounted technologies are not feasible, proposed floating offshore wind projects now total 1,993 MW of announced capacity, according to the report. News of the declining costs for offshore wind projects in Europe spurred confidence in the domestic U.S. offshore wind market over the past year, the report states. Most of the near-term activity is concentrated in the Atlantic off the Northeast coast, but projects have been proposed in the Southeast Atlantic, the Pacific, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Great Lakes. Several states including Massachusetts, New York, and Maryland have enacted new policy or bolstered their existing policy to support the development of over 4,000MW of offshore wind.

As the complete offshore energy industry gathers in RAI Amsterdam on 9, 10 and 11 October, Offshore WIND is inviting companies to the Offshore WIND Expertise Hub booth, where interviews will be held with leading players from the industry.

Watch one of the videos from the Offshore WIND Expertise Hub held recently (all interviews can be seen on Offshore WIND Vimeo Channel by Navingo). If you want to apply for the hub, contact our sales via mm@navingo.com. Only the best innovations will be chosen!

Expertise hub

Projects

HAVYARD, ESVAGT SIGN € 7.60 MILLION CONTRACT FOR DEBU SOV Havyard Group has confirmed it signed a contract for the fifth Service Operation Vessel (SOV) ordered by Esvagt, which will be chartered by MHI Vestas Offshore Wind for a period of fifteen years to serve the 252MW Deutsche Bucht (DeBu) offshore wind farm in Germany. This is going to be the seventh Havyard vessel heading to Esvagt. The other six include four wind farm vessels, one oil service vessel and one vessel for crew change.

The contract, worth more than NOK 70 million (approx. EUR 7.60 million), involves the design and equipment for construction at an external shipyard in Europe. The SOV will be built by the Zamakona shipyard in Bilbao, Spain. The DeBu SOV will be equipped with a walk-to-work gangway system in a bespoke tower with a crane placed on top of the tower, which, together with Esvagt’s Safe Transfer Boats STB 7 and STB 12, will contribute to the safe transfer of turbine technicians, tools and spare parts. Work on both design and equipment package will start immediately and the vessel is due to be delivered in August 2019.

Contracts

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SIF PUTS SECOND PRODUCTION LINE AT MAASVLAKTE 2 INTO OPERATION

Dutch foundation components manufacturer Sif Holding NV has put into operation the second production line at the company’s assembly facility at Maasvlakte 2, Rotterdam, bringing the plant to full capacity. With the opening of the second production line this month, the company expects the capacity for XL monopiles to increase and reach a maximum capacity of 300 Kton on an annual basis by the end of 2017, Sif said in its financial report

for the first half of 2017. Investments in expanding production facilities in Roermond to allow for bigger diameters were also completed by the end of the first half of 2017. Full-year capex related to the Rotterdam plant and Roermond will amount to approximately EUR 25 million, Sif said. “Sif once again contributed to some of the most prominent energy projects in Northwest Europe in the first half of 2017 through deliveries for Sverdrup, Rentel and Galloper,” Sif’s CEO Jan Bruggenthijs said. Sif’s order book for Offshore Wind in 2017 is full and the order book for Offshore Oil & Gas is filled to the base load level.

Sif expects to produce approximately 230 Kton for the entire year 2017. The order book for 2018 for both Offshore Wind and Offshore Oil & Gas stands at 109 Kton and includes the Albatros and Borkum II offshore wind projects. ”Other projects, including St Nazaire and Courseulles in France and Fryslan in the Netherlands, scheduled for 2018 have been shifted to 2019 primarily relating to environmental issues,” Bruggenthijs said.

Foundations

ABB TO PROVIDE ENERGY STORAGE SOLUTION FOR DONG ENERGY’S SOV

ABB will install Onboard DC Grid power distribution on board Louis Dreyfus Armateurs’ (LDA) wind farm Service Operation Vessel (SOV) to enable the cost-efficient integration of batteries. ABB’s Power and Energy Management System (PEMS) is said to enable lean operation with fewer running generators without compromising on safety, meaning less maintenance and better fuel consumption over the longterm. “Shipping is waking up to the many advantages of energy storage,” said Juha Koskela, Managing Director of ABB’s marine and ports business. “With the industry starting to use batteries more and more, and fuel cells becoming a viable option, we fully expect the Onboard DC Grid to gain further traction.” The Onboard DC Grid will integrate two sets of batteries used primarily for spinning reserve and peak shaving. Power peaks during operation can be covered by the battery rather than starting another engine. Again, battery power can act as backup for running generators, reducing the need to run spare generator capacity. In addition to ship efficiency gains, the mode of operation has long-term benefits for ship engines, as it increases efficiency through higher engine load and reduces running hours overall, ABB said. The LDA ship is under construction at the Cemre Shipyard in Turkey. The vessel design is a SOV vessel by Salt Ship Design. Once delivered in 2018, the new LDA SOV will operate for Dong Energy Wind Power AS on four wind farms off the German coast – Borkum Riffgrund 1&2, and Gode Wind 1&2 – and will enable the maintenance of wind turbines by wind farm technicians.

Company news

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FIRST ORDER FOR SEA PUFFIN SES DAUGHTER CRAFT LANDS ON ESNA’S DESK Esbjerg Shipyard in Denmark will build the first ordered ESNA Sea Puffin Surface Effect Ship (SES) Daughter Craft, to be delivered in early 2018 to WindPartner, an independent ship owner and ship manager based in Kristiansand, Norway. The high-performance 15m long SES daughter craft employs an air cushion for active motion damping, allowing offshore wind turbine access capability as for a much larger vessel, ESNA stated. The vessel is deployable by a standard 15-tonne davit system and is designed to distribute personnel from mother ships or platforms to offshore wind turbines. “We like to say that ‘a SES punches above its length’. The air cushion takes away motions, giving transit motions and access to offshore turbines as had it been a much larger vessel,” ESNA’s Naval Architect Nere Skomedal said. “This is really the key to why we have so much faith in and interest for this daughter craft. Sea Puffin provides a significantly larger weather window than competing daughter craft and reduces the need of support from land based vessels”. WindPartner will offer the vessel for charter to vessel owners and wind farm operators to support, for instance, an accommodation vessel in an installation campaign. Development of the Sea Puffin has been supported by the Carbon Trust’s Offshore Wind Accelerator, Regional Research Council Agder (RFFAgder) and The Sørlandet Knowledge Foundation (SKF).

ENOVA and Innovation Norway is supporting WindPartner with building the first vessel.

IDEOL’S FLOATGEN FOUNDATION HITS THE WATER

The square ring-shaped floating foundation, the heart of the Floatgen floating wind project, was launched yesterday at the Port of Saint-Nazaire, France. The floating foundation, known as the Damping Pool, has been developed and patented by Ideol and built by Bouygues Travaux Publics.

The structure will house a 2MW Vestas V80 wind turbine, which will be fixed into position – quayside – on the foundation, before the whole assembly is towed to the SEMREV installation site. Once on site, the wind turbine will be connected to the anchoring system and the electricity export cable. The aim of the project is to show the commercial potential of offshore floating wind turbines, as well as to underscore the industrial potential of this new sector which will lead to job creation on both a local level near the installation sites, where concrete is the main foundation construction material, as well as with the main suppliers. In a recent interview with the Offshore WIND Expertise Hub team, Ideol’s Chief Sales & Marketing Officer, Bruno Geschier said that the company’s experience has shown concrete to be a cheaper option for floating wind, especially due to its durability and minimum O&M needs. The Floatgen project is a joint venture between Ideol, Bouygues Travaux Publics, Centrale Nantes engineering school, RSK Group, Zabala, the University of Stuttgart, and Fraunhofer IWES. Francebased offshore services provider Bourbon completed the installation of the mooring system in July 2017.

Vessels

Floating

UMOE RAPID DEBUTS FOR STATOIL Umoe Rapid has completed its first charter at world’s first floating wind farm, the 30MW Hywind Scotland Pilot Park, and at the 402MW Dudgeon offshore wind farm for Statoil. The 30MW Hywind Scotland Pilot Park comprises five Siemens 6MW turbines mounted on SPAR-type floating foundations. The Dudgeon offshore wind farm comprises 67 Siemens 6MW wind turbines. Statoil is developing and will operate the wind farm following its full commissioning later this year. The newbuild high-performance crew transfer vessel (CTV) was used for cargo and crew transfer. After Umoe Firmus, Umoe Rapid is the second Wavecraft CTV from Umoe Mandal AS that has carried out a charter for Statoil at the Hywind offshore wind farm. Umoe Rapid was delivered in May 2017 and is currently under commercial and operational management by World Marine Offshore.

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WINDFARMUPDATES

USA

REVOLUTION WIND OFFSHORE WIND FARM CAPACITY 144MW Deepwater Wind unveiled plans for its newest project off the American coast in July. The 144MW Revolution Wind, an offshore wind farm that would be paired with a 40MWh battery storage system provided by Tesla, is proposed to be built in Deepwater Wind’s federal lease site off the coast of Massachusetts. Deepwater Wind is proposing the 144MW Revolution Wind farm in response to Commonwealth’s request for proposals for new sources of clean energy in Section 83D of the Act to Promote Energy Diversity. In addition, the developer provided alternative bids for a larger 288MW version of Revolution Wind and a smaller 96MW version.

Deepwater Wind also intends to submit an offshore wind proposal under Massachusetts’ separate 83C offshore wind RFP. Those bids are due in December 2018.

Deepwater Wind also announced that it will be the first offshore wind company to base construction and operations in the City of New Bedford, Mass.

The company will locate final turbine assembly and staging operations at the New Bedford Marine Commerce Terminal. In addition, Revolution Wind’s long-term operations and maintenance centre will be in the City. If approved, local construction work on Revolution Wind would begin in 2022, with the project in operations in 2023.

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WALNEY EXTENSION OFFSHORE WIND FARM CAPACITY 659MW TURBINES 87 FOUNDATIONS MONOPILE Electricity has been generated for the first time at DONG Energy’s Walney Extension offshore wind farm, located off the coast of Cumbria, United Kingdom. The wind farm is located in the Irish Sea, approximately 19km from the Walney Island coast in Cumbria, and covers an area of 145km2. MHI Vestas Offshore Wind and Seajacks have installed the first of 40 V164-8.0MW turbines and power is now being exported to the national grid, marking an important milestone for the 659MW project, DONG Energy said. A further 47 Siemens Gamesa turbines will complete the 87-turbine wind farm. Construction of the project is being coordinated from a base at the Port of Barrow, which already hosts the operation and maintenance teams for three other DONG Energy offshore wind farms; Barrow, Walney and West of Duddon Sands. Once fully commissioned, Walney Extension will leapfrog London Array to become the world’s largest operational offshore wind farm.

BURBO BANK OFFSHORE WIND FARM AND EXTENSION CAPACITY 90MW TURBINES 25 FOUNDATIONS MONOPILE Construction has finished on DONG Energy’s new offshore wind farm operations base on the bank of the Mersey. The construction company Robertson North West handed over the keys to the GBP 6 million Wirral facility to DONG on Thursday, 4 August. After the team has spent some time settling in, DONG will hold a celebratory event later in the year. The multi-million pound facility at Kings Wharf, Seacombe, will serve both Burbo Bank offshore wind farm and the new Burbo Bank Extension which opened in May this year. Around 75 people were employed during the construction phase, which began in August 2016, and once fully operational around 45 people will be permanently based at the site.

The two-storey building will be used for the storage of materials and equipment required for the ongoing maintenance of the wind farms, as well as office facilities and parking for staff. A new ladder on the quay wall will enable boats to “push on” directly, allowing easy access for technicians to board, DONG said. Lee Rollason, head of Burbo Bank operations, said: “Having operated out of Liverpool for over ten years DONG Energy is committed to investing in the North and this state of the art facility is another example of that. To have both our windfarms operating from here makes complete sense in terms of efficiencies and the site has excellent access offshore. We are proud to be operating from an important docklands location.”

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BEATRICE OFFSHORE WIND FARM PROJECT CAPACITY 558MW

SCT

TURBINES 84 FOUNDATIONS GROUNDED Seaway Heavy Lifting’s vessels Stanislav Yudin and Oleg Strashnov have installed 69 pile clusters and 12 jacket foundations in the Outer Moray Firth off Scotland for the 588MW Beatrice offshore wind farm project. Beatrice is located on the North Western point of the Smith Bank, approximately 13km off the Caithness coastline.

Stanislav Yudin is installing the pile clusters and Oleg Strashnov is installing the jacket foundations for the wind farm’s 84 Siemens 7MW wind turbines and two Siemens Offshore Transformer Modules.

The wind farm is being developed with a tier 1 supply chain comprising Seaway Heavy Lifting, Subsea 7, Nexans and Siemens. The piling works are expected to be completed by the end of October. Jacket installation activities are expected to continue until December 2017 and then resume in May 2018, weather permitting.

The first turbines are expected to be installed in summer 2018, and the wind farm is scheduled to be commissioned by the end of 2019.

UK

DOGGER BANK OFFSHORE WIND DEVELOPMENT PROJECT CAPACITY 4.8GW Statoil has signed a swap agreement with innogy and SSE for equity interests in the Dogger Bank offshore wind development project. The Dogger Bank development consists of four offshore wind farm projects, Creyke Beck A and B and Teesside A and B. Following the transaction, Statoil and SSE will own 50% each in Creyke Beck A and B and Teesside A, while Innogy will own 100% of Teesside B. The three Dogger Bank projects that Statoil and SSE will own are located between 125 and 195km off the east coast of Yorkshire. Each of them extends on an area of between 500 and 600km2.

Dogger Bank is the world’s largest offshore wind development, having achieved consent for an agreed target installed capacity of 4.8GW, with 1.2GW consented for each of the four projects. “Dogger Bank represents a unique opportunity for the UK to develop secure, sustainable and cost-competitive energy from its world-class wind resource and the asset constitutes a very important element in Statoil’s strategy to gradually complement our oil and gas portfolio with profitable renewable energy solutions,” said Irene Rummelhoff, Statoil’s executive vice president for New Energy Solutions.

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WALNEY EXTENSION WIND FARM CAPACITY 659MW TURBINES 87 FOUNDATIONS MONOPILE Dutch offshore construction specialist Van Oord has installed all 87 foundations at DONG Energy’s 659MW Walney Extension wind farm in the Irish Sea. The wind farm will consist of 40 8.25MW MHI Vestas and 47 7MW Siemens wind turbines. “All monopile foundations and transition pieces are now in place for both Walney Extension 03 & Walney Extension 04.

Installation works are progressing as planned and we are working towards our next milestone of first power generation from the site,” DONG Energy told Offshore WIND. Seajacks’ wind farm installation vessel, Seajacks Scylla, arrived to the Belfast Harbour in early August to load the MHI Vestas turbine components and install them some 19 kilometres off the Cumbrian coast.

The turbine components are being stored in Belfast and the construction is coordinated from the port of Barrow in Furness. Following the installation of the 40 MHI Vestas turbines on Walney 3, Seajacks Scylla will install the 47 Siemens turbines on Walney 4. Once fully commissioned in 2019, Walney Extension will become the world’s largest operating offshore wind farm

EAST ANGLIA THREE OFFSHORE WIND FARM CAPACITY 1,200MW TURBINES 100-172 FOUNDATIONS GROUNDED SUBSTATIONS 1 ScottishPower Renewables has received planning approval from the UK Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), Greg Clark MP, for the East Anglia THREE offshore wind farm with an output capacity of up to 1,200MW. East Anglia THREE will cover an area of up to 305 square kilometres and will require up to 172 wind turbines to build the full capacity. The planning consent will allow for the installation of larger and more efficient ‘next generation’ turbines, up to a tip height of 247 metres, the developer said, adding that the next generation technology will help to ensure that offshore wind is one of the cheapest forms of low carbon electricity. The regulatory framework in the UK requires that offshore wind farm developers enter pre-qualified projects into a Contracts for Difference (CfD) auction process, where the most economic projects are selected to receive a contract. If successful in future CfD auctions, ScottishPower Renewables would like to see construction starting around 2022, with the project up and running by 2025.

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HYWIND SCOTLAND PROJECT CAPACITY 30MW TURBINES 5 FOUNDATIONS SPAR FLOATER The final floating wind turbine for the Hywind Scotland project has been towed to the site and installed at its designated location off Peterhead, Scotland. The 30MW

SCT

Hywind Scotland Pilot Park comprises five Siemens 6MW turbines mounted on a SPAR-type floating foundation.

The turbines are 253 meters tall from bottom to wing tip, of which 78 metres will be under water and 175 metres above, according to Statoil, which further added that the turbine has a rotor diameter of 154 metres, with each blade being 75 metres long and the nacelle big enough to park two double decker buses inside. The floating

HORNSEA PROJECT ONE OFFSHORE WIND FARM CAPACITY 1,218MW TURBINES 174

substructures, built by the Spanish Navantia-Windar

FOUNDATIONS MONOPILE

consortium, are 91 meters long and have a diameter of 14,4 metres. The EUR 200 million project, which can

SUBSTATIONS 1

provide 20,000 UK households with renewable energy, is owned by Statoil (75%) and Masdar (25%). The first electricity from the world’s first floating wind farm is

DONG Energy is currently undertaking the necessary preparations

expected to be produced in October.

to begin offshore works on the 1.2GW Hornsea Project One offshore wind farm which were scheduled to start in September.

Pre-installation works include activities such as boulder clearance and the inspection of potential unexploded ordnance (UXO) items. Following the completion of the boulder and UXO removal activities, DONG will start preliminary offshore export cable installation works in September. Scour protection works are planned to start in the fourth quarter of 2017 and are expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2018. Installation of the four offshore substations is scheduled to commence in the second quarter of 2018. All other offshore works, such as the installation of foundations and inter-array cables, are currently scheduled to commence in early 2018, DONG said. Once operational in 2020, Hornsea Project One will become the largest offshore wind farm in the world, consisting of up to 174 turbines. The Siemens 7MW turbines will be located 120km off the Yorkshire coast, covering an area of approximately 407km2.

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DEUTSCHE BUCHT OFFSHORE WIND FARM CAPACITY 252MW TURBINES 30 FOUNDATIONS MONOPILE SUBSTATIONS 1 Van Oord has won the Balance of Plant (BOP) contract for Northland Power’s 252MW Deutsche Bucht, or DeBu, offshore wind farm after the project reached its financial close. The BOP scope consists of the design, engineering, procurement, construction and installation of the foundations, inter-array cables and an offshore high voltage station, as well as the transportation of the wind turbines. Additionally, among others, Van Oord will deploy its offshore installation vessel Aeolus and cable-laying vessel Nexus. The installation is expected to start in the second half of 2018.

“Our cooperation during the Gemini project had proved very successful.

We are confident that this will be another excellent cooperation between Northland Power and Van Oord. Both Northland Power and Van Oord share the ambition to contribute to the further development of offshore wind as reliable renewable energy source,” Arnoud Kuis, Director at Van Oord Offshore Wind said. The Deutsche Bucht wind farm is located in the German Bight, 95 kilometres northwest from the island of Borkum. It will consist of 31 8MW MHI Vestas wind turbines and will have a total power of 252MW. Deutsche Bucht is expected to be operational by the end of 2019.

Deutsche Bucht offshore wind project reaches financial close.

BORKUM RIFFGRUND 2 OFFSHORE WIND FARM CAPACITY 450MW TURBINES 56 SUBSTATIONS 1 DONG Energy has entered into an agreement to sell 50% of the 450MW Borkum Riffgrund 2 offshore wind farm project to Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) for a total consideration of approximately EUR 1.17 billion. The total sales price, payable over a period from 2017 until 2019, includes the purchase price for GIP for its acquisition of 50% of the project and its commitment to fund 50% of the payments under a full-scope EPC – engineering, procurement and construction. DONG Energy will construct the wind farm under a full-scope EPC agreement. DONG Energy will also provide long-term operations and maintenance services from its O&M base in Norddeich and provide a route to market for the power production from GIP’s 50% share of Borkum Riffgrund 2. Now, the company expects EBITDA of DKK 17-19 billion (EUR 2.3 – 2.6 billion).

The company’s expected gross investments remain unchanged at DKK 18-20bn. Borkum Riffgrund 2 is located within the German Exclusive Economic Zone, approximately 17 kilometres east of the border between Germany and the Netherlands, and some 34km north of the island of Borkum. Borkum Riffgrund 2 is currently under construction in the German North Sea and is expected to be fully commissioned in 2019.

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NISSUM BREDNING DEMONSTRATION OFFSHORE WIND PROJECT CAPACITY 28MW TURBINES 4 FOUNDATIONS JACKET Spain’s Navantia-Windar consortium has loaded the first two out of four jacket foundations built for the 28MW Nissum Bredning demonstration offshore wind project at Navantia’s facility in Fene. The offshore wind project will see four Siemens 7MW direct drive wind turbines on jacket foundations, as well as a new 66kV voltage solution including a new transformer, cable and switchgear systems, along with further innovations regarding tower and controller settings. The elements to be tested in Nissum Bredning are expected to contribute to cost reduction of future offshore wind

DK

projects. In January 2017, Siemens chose the NavantiaWindar joint venture for the supply of three-legged jacket foundations and accompanying piles for four 7MW offshore wind turbines to be installed at the demonstration offshore wind farm off Denmark.

KRIEGERS FLAK OFFSHORE WIND FARM CAPACITY 590-610MW TURBINES 60-75 FOUNDATIONS GRAVITY-BASED An export cable for the 600MW Kriegers Flak offshore wind farm made a successful landfall at Rødvig, Denmark, Energinet reports. Kriegers Flak wind farm consists of two sections, each with its own substation and the west section, KFA, will have a total capacity of 200MW. The east section, KFB, will have a total capacity of 400MW. Energinet is constructing onshore and offshore infrastructure to connect Vattenfall’s Kriegers Flak wind farm in the Baltic Sea to the Danish grid. The cable pull-in operations were carried out with NKT’s cable laying vessel – NKT Victoria. The Kriegers Flak wind farm will be located approximately 15km east of the Danish coast in the southern part of the Baltic Sea, close to the boundaries of the exclusive offshore economic zones (EEZ) of Sweden, Germany and Denmark. The wind farm will be located a few kilometres from the German offshore wind farm Baltic 2. Energinet and German 50Hertz Transmission will connect the two wind farms, creating the world’s first offshore power grid which combines wind energy with the possibility of exchanging power between the two countries. The installation of two gravity based foundations (GBFs) for the two offshore substations is expected to start this autumn, and the topsides are expected to be installed in spring 2018.

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BORSSELE 1&2 OFFSHORE WIND FARM CAPACITY 752MW TURBINES 94 FOUNDATIONS MONOPILE SUBSTATIONS 1 DONG Energy has decided to set up an operation and maintenance base for its 752MW Borssele 1&2 project at the Vlissingen harbour. Claus Bøjle Møller, Programme Director for Borssele 1&2 at DONG Energy: “Vlissingen offers an excellent location for our O&M base in terms of onshore and offshore logistics as well as maritime services for the construction and operation of our new wind farm.” The developer has signed a Letter of Intent with Zeeland Seaports, with both parties agreeing on further development of a specific location in Vlissingen Buitenhaven in the coming months. The final contract will be signed as soon as both parties reach an agreement on the terms

NL

and conditions, DONG stated. Borssele 1&2 will be located 22km from the coast of the Dutch province of Zeeland in water depths between 14 and 38 metres and will cover an area of 128.3km2. The power supplied by the 752MW offshore wind farm will be sufficient to cover the annual electricity consumption of close to one million households. The project is scheduled for commissioning by the end of 2020.

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ÉOLIENNES EN MER DIEPPE ET LE TRÉPORT AND THE ILES D’YEU ET DE NOIRMOUTIER WIND FARMS CAPACITY 496MW TURBINES 62 FOUNDATIONS JACKET ODE and DORIS Engineering, both part of the DORIS Group, have been awarded Owners Engineer contracts covering the wind turbine generator installation and the marine construction management for the Éoliennes en mer Dieppe et Le Tréport and the Iles d’Yeu et de Noirmoutier wind farms off France. The Éoliennes en mer Iles d’Yeu and Noirmoutier consortium brings together Engie, EDP Renewables and Caisse des Dépôts to develop these projects. The contract will see ODE provide engineering and project management support for the wind turbine generator installation and for the marine construction management from ODE’s offices in central London and from the DORIS Group headquarters in Paris. The 496MW Dieppe et Le Tréport offshore wind farm is located 16km from Dieppe and 15km from Tréport.

The 496MW Iles d’Yeu et de Noirmoutier offshore wind farm project is located 11.6km from the island of Yeu and 16.5km from Noirmoutier and each project will use 62 of the Adwen 8MW turbines. Construction and installation of Dieppe et Le Tréport and Iles d’Yeu et de Noirmoutier wind farms will begin in 2019 and commissioning is expected in 2021, with the wind farm remaining in operation until 2041.

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TAHKOLUOTO WIND FARM CAPACITY 42MW TURBINES 10 FOUNDATIONS GRAVITY-BASED Finnish offshore wind developer Suomen Hyötytuuli Oy has inaugurated the 42MW Tahkoluoto wind farm, the world’s first offshore wind farm built for icy conditions. The wind farm is located off Tahkoluoto in Pori and comprises ten Siemens 4.2MW wind turbines. ”Suomen Hyötytuuli has now a ready concept for planning and building offshore wind power on an industrial scale,” said Tuomo Kantola, the chairman of the board for Suomen Hyötytuuli. Back in 2010, Siemens supplied one wind turbine with a capacity of 2.3MW to Suomen Hyötytuuli Oy for the Pori pilot project, located 1.2km off the Finnish coast. This pilot turbine is now surrounded by the ten wind turbines of the Tahkoluoto wind farm. Jan De Nul’s heavy-lift jack up Vole au vent installed the tenth turbine at the site in early July. The offshore construction of the Tahkoluoto wind farm off Pori began in spring 2016, with Jan De Nul preparing the seabed for the installation of the wind farm’s foundations and subsea cables. Finland’s first offshore wind project has been inaugurated ahead of schedule, the company said.

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HIIUMAA OFFSHORE WIND FARM CAPACITY 700-1,100MW TURBINES 100-200 FOUNDATIONS GRAVITY-BASED Estonian wind energy developer Nelja Energia and the Hiiu municipality on the Hiiumaa Island have officially signed a cooperation agreement to build Estonia’s first offshore wind farm. Under the agreement, Nelja Energia commits to making a contribution to the development of the island, its economy and security of electricity supply. The agreement also sets out that the wind farm will have a minimal visual footprint and that no turbines will be put up closer than 12 kilometres from the Hiiumaa island and on Neupokoyev Bank. It has also been agreed that the maintenance operations center of the wind farm will be set up in Hiiumaa and training of technicians will take place in Hiiumaa in the future. The service center is expected to create 30 new jobs directly as well as 20 indirect jobs. Nelja Energia AS proposes to build the Loode-Eesti wind farm (Hiiumaa offshore wind farm) comprising 100 to 160 wind turbines with an aggregate capacity of 700 to 1,100 megawatts in the sea to the north of Hiiumaa. The turbines will have a nominal capacity of between 4 and 7 megawatts. The construction of the wind farm is scheduled to start in the second half of 2018, with the commissioning slated for 2020.

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Winning Combinations

adv_Europort2017_190x133mm-reg-UK.indd 1

14-7-2017 16:22:36

2018 FEBRUARY

Windforce Baltic Sea 7 - 8 February Conference & Exhibition Gothenburg, Sweden www.windforce.info/balticsea

All Energy 2 - 3 May Conference & Exhibition Glasgow, United Kingdom www.all-energy.co.uk Windforce Conference 15 - 17 May Conference Bremen, Germany www.windforce.info/windforce2018

Seanergy 12 - 14 June Conference & Exhibition Cherbourg, France www.seanergy-convention.com Global Offshore 2018 19 - 20 June Conference & Exhibition Manchester, United Kingdom www. offshorewind2017.com

JULY SEPTEMBER

MARCH

WindEurope Conference & Exhibtion 2017 28 - 30 November 2017 Conference & Exhibition Amsterdam, the Netherlands https://windeurope.org/confex2017/

Maintenance 2018 21 - 22 March Conference & Exhibition Antwerp, Belgium www.easyfairs.com/nl/­ maintenance-2018

OCTOBER

NOVEMBER

Offshore Energy Exhibition & Conference (9), 10, 11 October Conference & Exhibition Amsterdam, the Netherlands www.offshore-energy.biz

MAY

Offshore WIND Conference 9 - 10 October Conference Amsterdam, the Netherlands www.offshoreWINDconference.biz

JUNE

OCTOBER

EVENTSCALENDAR

Seawork 3 - 5 July Exhibition & Conference Southampton, United Kingdom www.seawork.com

Wind Energy Hamburg 25 - 28 September Conference & Exhibition Hamburg, Germany www.windenergyhamburg.com

Offshore WIND Conference 2018 22 & 23 October Conference Amsterdam, the Netherlands www.offshorewindconference.biz Offshore Energy Exhibition & Conference (22), 23 & 24 October Conference & Exhibition Amsterdam, the Netherlands www.offshore-energy.biz

For a complete overview of all offshore wind events go to www.offshoreWIND.biz.

BOOK YOUR IBG'18 PROFILE NOW! The Offshore WIND International Business Guide (IBG) is the definitive reference book for the offshore wind industry, your industry. A detailed guide with a clean A-Z index and a sectored directory in the back to enables your clients to quickly find you.

Whether you make the key decisions in the industry or you want key decisions made in your favour, this guide will work for you and your

company. In one step you can advertise your company for a whole year (in print as well as online).

The 2018 edition will contain company profiles and status reports as well as projections provided by national offshore wind organisations and further includes maps and informative illustrations.

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Offshore WIND | NO. 04 2017

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BUSINESSDIRECTORY

BALTIC TAUCHEREIUND BERGUNGSBETRIEB ROSTOCK GMBH Alter Hafen Sud 3 18069 Rostock Germany T +49 39 18 11 10 00 info@baltic-taucher.de www.baltic-tacher.de

KCI De Brauwweg 22-30 3125 AE Schiedam The Netherlands T +31 10 42 70 39 9 info@kci.nl www.kci.nl

SWAN HUNTER (NE) LTD. Station Road, Wallsend, NE28 6EQ United Kingdom T +44 (0) 19 12 95 02 95 info@swanhunter.com

ING BANK N.V. Bijlmerplein 888 P.O. Box 1800 1000 BV Amsterdam The Netherlands T +31 (0)20 56 51 02 4 steven.evans@ingbank.com www.ingwb.com

Installation Vessels

Consultancy & Inspections

VERWEIJ HOEBEE GROEP Marine Surveyors and Consulting Engineers Osdorper Ban 17 BC 1068 LD Amsterdam The Netherlands T +31 (0) 20 61 07 26 0 info@verweij-hoebee.nl www.verweij-hoebee.nl

JAN DE NUL GROUP 34-36 Parc d’activités Capellen 8308 Capellen Luxembourg T +35 23 98 91 1 info@jandenulgroup.com www.jandenul.com

HSE & Training

Engineering Companies

Chartering

WATERWORKS OFFSHORE SERVICES GMBH Turmweg 1 - 20148 Hamburg Germany T +49 40 52 47 72 05 0 chartering@waterworks-offshore.com www.waterworks-offshore.com

Diving Operations

VBMS P.O. Box 282 3350 AG Papendrecht The Netherlands T +31 78 641 7500 E info@vbms.com

Contractors

Cables & Components

OIL CONTROL SYSTEMS Vlotlaan 232 2681 TV Monster The Netherlands T +31 17 42 81 67 5 info@oilcontrolsystems.nl www.oilcontrolsystems.nl

HEIGHTEC Unit 19, Lake District Business Park Mint Bridge Road Kendal LA9 6NH United Kingdom T +44 15 39 72 88 66 info@heightec.com www.heightec.com

A2SEA A/S Kongens Kvarter 51 7000 Fredericia Denmark T +45 75 92 82 11 a2sea@a2sea.com www.a2sea.com

MPI OFFSHORE Resolution House 18 Ellerbeck Court Stokesley Business Park Stokesley North Yorkshire TS9 5PT United Kingdom T +44 16 42 74 22 00 info@mpi-offshore.com www.mpi-offshore.com

www. swanhunter.com

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Offshore WIND | NO. 04 2017

Finance

LONDON OFFSHORE CONSULTANTS LIMITED Ibex House 42-47 Minories London EC3N 1DY United Kingdom T +44 20 72 64 32 50 london@loc-group.com www.loc-group.com

DELTA LLOYD Postbus 1000, 1000 BA Amsterdam The Netherlands T +31 (0) 61 06 23 93 1 willem_schrijver@deltalloyd.nl www.deltalloyd.com

SEAFOX P.O. Box 799 2130 AT Hoofddorp The Netherlands T +31 (0)23 55 41 31 3 info@seafox.com

Ship Builders

Offshore

ELA CONTAINER NEDERLAND B.V. Rouaanstraat 39 9723 CC Groningen The Netherlands T +31 50 31 82 24 7 info@ela-offshore.com www.ela-container.com

ZEELAND SEAPORTS Schelpenpad 2, Harbour no 1151 P.O. Box 132 Terneuzen The Netherlands T +31 11 56 47 40 0 info@zeelandseaports.com www.zeelandseaports.com

DAMEN SHIPYARDS GROUP P.O. Box 1 4200 AA Gorinchem The Netherlands T +31 18 36 39 91 1 info@damen.com www.damen.com

Offshore WIND Conference

PROTEA SP. Z O.O. Galaktyczna 30A 80-299 Gdansk Poland T +48 58 34 80 00 4 protea@protea.pl www.protea.pl

Towers, Foundations, Substations

Lifting Equipment

www.seajacks.com

Personnel Services

HUBEL MARINE B.V. Karel Doornmanweg 5 3115 JD Schiedam The Netherlands T +31 10 45 87 33 8 info@hubelmarine.com www.hubelmarine.com

TOS - ENERGY & MARITIME MANPOWER Waalhaven O.Z. 77 3087 BM Rotterdam The Netherlands T +31 10 43 66 39 3 info@tos.nl www.tos.nl

EEW SPECIAL PIPE CONTRUCTIONS GMBH Am Eisenwerk 1 18147 Rostock Germany T + 49 38 18 17 16 0 info@eewspc.de www.eewspc.de

C-VENTUS OFFSHORE WINDFARM SERVICES BV Havenkade 100a 1973 AM IJmuiden The Netherlands T +31 25 58 20 02 0 E-mail: info@c-ventus.com

IPS POWERFUL PEOPLE Rivium Boulevard 101 2909 LK Capelle aan den IJssel The Netherlands P +31 (0)88 447 94 85 M +31 (0)6 15 088 257 H.vanBurk@ipspowerfulpeople.com www.ipspowerfulpeople.com

Suppliers

Port & Logistics

AYOP Het Havengebouw De Ruijterkade 7 (13e etage) 1013 AA Amsterdam The Netherlands T +31 (0) 20 62 73 70 6 info@ayop.com

SPINNER GMBH Erzgiessereistr. 33 80335 Munich Germany +49 89 12601-0 E-Mail: info@spinner-group.com Web: www.spinner-group.com

NV PORT OF DEN HELDER Postbus 4058 1780 HB Den Helder T +31 (0) 22 36 18 48 1 www.portofdenhelder.eu

VROON OFFSHORE SERVICES Het Nieuwe Werk 88 1781 AK Den Helder The Netherlands T +31 22 36 73 80 0 info@nl.vroonoffshore.com www.vroonoffshore.com

SMULDERS Hoge Mauw 200 2370 Arendonk – Belgium info@smuldersgroup.com www.smulders.com

VAN OORD OFFSHORE WIND PROJECTS BV P.O. Box 458 4200 AL Gorinchem The Netherlands T +31 88 82 65 20 0 area.owp@vanoord.com www.vanoord.com

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COLOPHON

ADVERTISERS’ INDEX

SALES Jeroen Tresfon | jt@navingo.com Dick Hill | dh@navingo.com Merle Fakkel | mf@navingo.com Maarten Molhoek | mm@navingo.com

| Alicat

page 32

| Damen Shipyards

page 4

| Deme Group

page 47

EDITORIAL Rebecca van den Berge-McFedries | rm@navingo.com Joost Dankers | jd@navingo.com Dick Hill | dh@navingo.com Adrijana Buljan | abu@navingo.com Adnan Durakovic | adu@navingo.com Helen Hill Eize de Vries

| Europort

page 76

| Kenz Figee

page 32

| Liebherr

page 2

| MAC

page 66

| Mpi Offshore

page 64

| Nord-Lock

page 66

| OEEC

page 50

| Oil control systems

page 76

| Seafox

inside back

| Seajacks

pages 28,29

| Seaway Heavy Lifting

back cover

| Sky Acces

page 64

| Van Oord

page 56

| VCK Travel

page 14

| VBMS

page 32

| Zeeland Seaports

page 64

MARKETING Marleen Varekamp | mv@navingo.com DESIGN | PRINTING Grafisch Bedrijf Crezée COVER IMAGE © GE Block Island

© 2017 Navingo BV. The entire contents of this publication are protected by copyright. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or transmitted in any form or by any means without the permission of the copyright owner. While every care has been taken in the preparation of this publication, neither the publisher nor the editor are responsible for the views and opinions expressed in this publication or for any inaccuracies in the articles. About: Offshore WIND is a publication by Navingo BV, a maritime multi media company based in the Netherlands. Offshore WIND is the first independent international magazine entirely dedicated to the offshore wind industry. The magazine provides its readers with news and background information on projects, research, legislation and companies and upcoming events. Offshore WIND is published quarterly (in January, April, July and October) and is available by annual subscription at 79 Euros. For regular updates the printed magazine is supported by the online platform.

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ACCOMMODATION (TLQ) & CRANE SUPPORT WELL SERVICES & WORKOVER TRANSPORTATION & INSTALLATION DECOMMISSIONING

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Seaway Heavy Lifting A S U B S E A 7 C O M PA N Y

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• EPCI 84 jacket foundations • EPCI inter array cables • T&I 2 substations

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This year we have started with the major EPCI contract for the Beatrice Offshore Wind Farm consisting of:

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Seaway Heavy Lifting is a leading offshore contractor in the global Oil & Gas and Renewables industry, offering tailored T&I and EPCI solutions. With over 25 years of experience we have installed more than 175 projects for the Oil & Gas industry and in recent years we became increasingly active in the Renewables industry having installed over 600 WTG foundations, substations and HVDC platforms.

A S U B S E A 7 C O M PA N Y

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A S U B S E A 7 C O M PA N Y