environmentally sensitive. Consequently, renewable energy projects have been slowed due to complex regulatory and permitting regimes. There is a great opportunity for naval architects and marine engineers to confront this challenge and apply their advanced knowledge and technologies developed originally for the offshore oil and gas sector, to the offshore renewable energy sector.
Jack-ups provide a flexible and stable platform not only for these major crane lifts, but also for the transportation of foundation and turbine components between fabrication sites, ports, and wind farm locations. A full-scale offshore wind farm could require the installation of 100 or more turbines in a time scale of months, therefore necessitating far more frequent rig moves than those required for offshore oil and gas drilling. Turbine installations also present unique challenges that Solutions in offshore industries can have implications on hull form, leg structure, jacking Offshore wind reached a significant level of development systems, preloading operations, emplacement and removal in Europe and is expanding in Asia and North America. operations, and severe weather procedures. Increased turbine sizes have played an important part The location of floating wind farms further offshore is in bringing the cost of offshore wind down to more under consideration to capture a greater share of offshore competitive levels. Larger, taller, and heavier turbines wind resources in deeper waters, particularly off the US require the development of supporting structures that West Coast as well as Hawaii, Japan, and Korea. are of cost-effective construction, transportation and Many naval and marine technologies used in the installation, as well as optimised motions and operational offshore oil and gas industry play a key part in developing performance. offshore wind resources at sea. Piled fixed platforms and The latest generation of turbines may require lifting monopiles, gravity-based foundations, jack-ups, Tension and installing foundations weighing up to 2500 t, as well Leg Platforms (TLPs), and moored floaters such as spars as turbine components of up to 1250 t to a height of 150 m. and semi-submersibles, are some examples. Spars and TLPs have good in-place motion capabilities but tend to have higher and more complex installation operations with the associated cost and risk. Semi-submersibles, such as GustoMSC’s Tri-Floater (Figure 1), can provide greater flexibility in assembly, transportation, and installation, and can be designed for efficient motions and performances when afloat. In addition, offshore wind projects require many types of support vessels for cable laying; safety and security; inspection, maintenance and repair (IRM); and crew changes. Hydrogen can also play an important part in accelerating the energy transition. Currently, hydrogen is mainly produced industrially from natural gas, which generates Figure 1. GustoMSC Tri-Floater, a floating offshore wind turbine. significant carbon emissions – grey hydrogen. The hydrogen is split from natural gas and the resulting carbon is released as CO2 into the air. Many industrial processes use grey hydrogen while manufacturing their products. Blue hydrogen can also be produced by stripping hydrogen from natural gas. However, the carbon components are then captured and injected into depleted gas fields or other utilisations of carbon such as in synthetic fuels. Carbon capture use and storage (CCUS) projects have been and continue to be developed in Europe. For instance, in the Northern Lights project in Norway, Equinor is drilling wells not with the aim of finding oil or gas, but to find suitable geological formations for the injection and storage of Figure 2. GustoMSC SC-14000XL jack-up design with a telescopic crane for Shimizu CO2. Another example is the Porthos project in Corporation. the Netherlands whereby the CO2 generated
20 ENERGY GLOBAL SUMMER 2020
