offshoreWIND

Offshore wind sector in need of purpose build vessels to meet political targets

Vestas battles to regain significant part of offshore market

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Lead ing magaz ine fo r T H E O F F S H O R E W I N D E N E R G Y I N D U S T R Y

V E S T A S B A T T L E S T O R E G A I N S I G N I F I C A N T P A R T O F O F F S H O R E M A R K E T

W h e n i t c o m e s t o o f f s h o r e w i n d , V e s t a s i s n ’ t l o s i n g a n y t i m e i n

c o n v i n c i n g t h e s e c t o r t h a t i t p l a n s t o r e c l a i m a s i g n i f i c a n t p a r t

o f t h i s m a r k e t . L e s s t h a n t w o m o n t h s a f t e r l a u n c h i n g a n e w 3 M W

m a r i n e - m a r k e t m a c h i n e , t h e D a n i s h m a n u f a c t u r e r u n v e i l e d a p l a n

f o r a 6 M W t u r b i n e f o r t h e s a m e m a r k e t . A s t h i s n e w, l a r g e m a -

c h i n e i s ‘ u n d e r d e v e l o p m e n t ’ , V e s t a s ’ o f f s h o r e p r e s i d e n t , A n d e r s

S ø e - J e n s e n , i n a n i n t e r v i e w w i t h O f f s h o r e W i n d , r e f u s e d t o g i v e u s

a n y f u r t h e r t e c h n i c a l d e t a i l s . B u t h e s t r e s s e s t h a t t h e n e w g i a n t

w i l l d r a m a t i c a l l y r e d u c e t h e c o s t o f e n e r g y c o m p a r e d t o w h a t c a n

b e a c h i e v e d b y a l l k n o w n c o m p e t i n g p r o d u c t s .

Anders Søe-Jensen is a man of few words. ‘Thank you, sir’ he answers briefly when we congratulate him on the ambitious 6MW offshore turbine-project. But he immediately makes clear that the plan is at the top of Vestas’ agenda: ‘It’s been under development for a while and you can be certain that our 1400 engineers aren’t just sitting on their hands.’ When the plan for the new turbine was unveiled on 27th October last year, along with the 2009 third quarter results, Vestas’ chief executive, Ditlev Engel, stressed that the venture is part of a strategy called ‘triple 15’; the goal is to have an earnings margin of 15% (Ebit) and a revenue of €15 billion by 2015. As he explains later on in the interview, instead of pro-jects that are still in the pipeline, the Vestas’ offshore president prefers to talk about tangible results, such as concrete orders for his machines. Of course, he menti-ons the many ‘love letters’ the manufacturer gets in the sector, like MOUs, LOIs and the so-called ‘frame work agreements’. ‘Love letters are nice to get, but they don’t put food on the table. They are nothing more than an intention to do something. But Vestas only makes announcements when things are certain, such as firm and unconditional orders.’

TOO BIG TO HIDE

Unveiling an immature project for a 6MW offshore turbine doesn’t correspond with this no nonsense approach. Søe-Jensen: ‘Of course you can question why we are releasing two offshore wind turbines on top of one another. The V112-3MW was launched

in September last year because it made sense to do so then, and the 6MW machine is actually being released earlier than we normally would have done. But it’s so big that we can’t simply hide it while we’re working on it. Rumours would have started and we wanted to avoid that.’ Indeed, some rumours were doing the rounds earlier, claiming that Vestas was working on a new offshore turbine based on a 4MW+ former model by NEG Micon, the Danish turbine manufacturer that the company took over in 2004. And by launching the plan for a 6MW turbine at an early stage, Vestas is said to be wanting to steal a march on its direct rival, the German turbine manufacturer, Siemens, which is thought to be developing a 5MW offshore machine. One thing is certain, by going public with the 6MW turbine project at this early stage, Vestas instantly exempts itself from the persistent uncertainty in the in-dustry about whether the Danish manufacturer is real-ly back in the offshore wind market. Even at the EWEA offshore wind conference in Stockholm in September last year, Søe-Jensen was plagued by questions of this kind. ‘For some reason, the story that we withdrew from the offshore sector in 2007 has stuck, regardless of the fact that we have clearly been seen to be back in this market since February 2008,’ the somewhat put out Vestas’ offshore president explained to Offshore Wind, calling the launch of the V112 a ‘milestone’ for the company. ‘This new machine is one more step towards Vestas becoming even more competitive in the offshore market’, Søe-Jensen underlined, ‘and we don’t intend to stop here. We are in the offshore market for the long run, and will have even more to reveal within

‘And we don’t intend to stop here. We are in the offshore market for the long run, and will have even more to reveal within the coming months’

V E S T A S B A T T L E S T O R E G A I N S I G N I F I C A N T P A R T O F O F F S H O R E M A R K E T

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T O O B I G T O H I D E

the coming months,’ indicating that something really big was already in the pipeline. Indeed, to emphasise its come back in the offshore wind industry, in September Vestas also announced that it had started a programme on floating foundations suitable for water depths of more than 30 meters with the Norwe-gian research institute Nowitech.

PAINSTAKING AFFAIR

Continuous gearbox problems with the 3MW V90 offshore model prompted Vestas to temporarily withdraw from the offshore market in early 2007. ‘For a new organization which was watching a market blossom around us, it was a pain-staking affair,’ Søe-Jensen later declared. He had been recruited by Vestas in 2006 to run the new offshore wind business unit, but when it was hampered by faulty gearboxes, the company didn’t sign off. Instead, it redesigned this complex piece of machinery and put the offshore versi-on of the V90 back on sale in May 2008. An order for 100 of these rejuvenated units from Vattenfall for its Thanet wind farm, which is now under construction in the Thames estuary, brought the Da-nish manufacturer back into the offshore market. Søe-Jensen said at the time: ‘The order really is a sign of voter confidence with a customer like Vattenfall, one of the biggest players in wind energy, choosing Vestas again.‘ Still, CEO Ditlev Engel did not at that time appear to be convinced of the potential of the off-shore market, stating that: ‘Offshore is a niche. Looking ahead, it will basically be onshore’.

Søe-Jensen now tries to put the words of his boss into perspective: ‘When Mr. Engel said that two years ago, it might have been true given the fact that if you looked at the wind industry at that time, wind power was providing only 1% of global electricity consumption. And of that tiny share, offshore wind was again only good for 1%. But looking forwards,

we now expect wind power to provide 10% of the electricity that the world will consume in 2020. In Europe that might even be 20%, with offshore wind taking 15-25% of that cake, because a lot of politicians in countries in the EU now see offshore wind as the salvation for nimby-ism. So offshore wind will be a significant market.’As Vestas now has three offshore wind turbines on the shelves (the offshore ver-sions of the V80,V90, and the V112) and the 6MW turbine in the pipeline, the Danish manufacturer likes to reconfirm that it is fully equipped to withstand the competition in the marine market. ‘Ves-tas is sending out a very strong message to the offshore community that we are in this industry to stay. There is complete focus from us. We want this,’ Søe Jensen stressed in his interview with Offshore Wind after the 6MW machine-project was unveiled on 27th October last year. Asked for more technical details about the new giant, the Dane becomes less talkative: ‘The machine has been under development for a while, but I’m not going to give you a timetable telling you exactly when a prototype will be ready, or when it will be commercially laun-ched.’ According to persistent rumours,

it will be a direct drive turbine, but again Søe-Jensen refuses to comment: ‘I can’t reveal that now, it’s too early to tell my competitors about it.’

So far as gearless turbine designs are concerned, Siemens, after its take-over of direct drive (DD) specialist Bonus Energy in 2004, installed two DD ’con-

cept’ 3.6MW machines in Western Denmark in 2008. Through testing for a minimum of two years, the German manufacturer hopes to discover whether DD-technology is able to compete with geared machines for large turbines. As a gearless system means fewer moving parts and, therefore, less maintenance, Siemens regards DD-technology as espe-cially attractive for the offshore sector. Other manufacturers like Clipper, Dea-woo/DeWind, GE/Scanwind, Samsung and XEMC/Darwind think the same. But Vestas still seem to be keeping all options open. Søe Jensen: ‘We are the only major turbine supplier that is focussing on no-thing else but wind energy, so of course we are always scouring the market to see what options there are.’ Manufacturers like Bard, Multibrid and REpower already fabricate 5MW offshore wind turbines, but all these are geared machines.

TURBINES LIKE SHIPS

One thing Søe Jensen is certain of is that offshore wind turbines should be built much more like ships are. ‘If you have a ship engine, even if it’s as tall as a house, if it breaks down you can still take it out in small pieces with internal equipment

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and repair it on the spot. The same philosophy must be applied to offshore wind turbines, so that you don’t need expensive crane ships to bring a turbine ashore.’ He goes on: ‘You don’t run a ship to fail either,’ he adds. ’You main-tain it on a preventive basis. The same applies to offshore wind turbines. To meet political ambitions, the sector must provide much more reliable marine tur-

bines that are more easily available.’ In its control centre in Denmark, Vestas is monitoring some 13,000 turbines online, enabling controllers to predict whether a component should be replaced or not. Søe Jensen: ‘The thing about offshore is that you have to remain closely involved to prevent turbines from breaking down at the moment you start to make money, i.e. when the wind starts to blow. With the waves picking up as well, repairs then become very expensive because you have to send in a repair crew by helicopter.’ What the average availability of Vestas’ offshore wind turbines is, Søe Jensen says he cannot tell us: ‘For the simple reason that we operate wind farms that belong to customers with whom we have confi-dentially agreements. He does, however, refer to Vattenfall, which as one of Vestas main offshore clients, mentions on its website an availability of 97%: ‘I think that’s very good’.

NECK-AND-NECK RACE

When Vestas was tormented by gearbox-problems in 2007, Siemens took the lead in the offshore market with its succes-sful 3.6MW-107 turbine. Like Vestas, this German turbine manufacturer is

now also involved in producing a pilot for floating wind turbines (the Hywind project). And in their neck-and-neck race, Siemens, like Vestas, launched a new offshore machine, the 3.6MW-120, at the EWEA Stockholm conference in September. Two prototypes of this new turbine were installed near Copenhagen just in time for the UN climate summit in December, while the first V112 turbi-

nes will be installed in late 2010. Vestas were, therefore, only able to offer delega-tions arriving at the conference a glance at its refitted V90 offshore model, of which seven units were rapidly installed last autumn near the Storebelt-bridge on the way to the Danish capital. With an overall market share of almost 21% in 2008, Vestas can still call itself the world leader in the wind industry. However, Søe Jensen recognises that this share has shrunk considerably in the last few years because of growing competition and new Chinese manufacturers entering the market (according to Make Consul-ting of Denmark, Vestas’ overall market share in 2004 was 34%). In the offshore sector, with over 400 marine turbines in-stalled, the company had an accumulated a market share of 51 percent by the end of 2008. Søe Jensen suggests, however, that Vestas Offshore has been overtaken by Siemens in 2009: ‘The fact is, if you look at the installed base today, Siemens has installed more offshore turbines than we have. That’s ok when you con-sider that with the V90 we stepped out of the offshore business for a full year. But now we are back. What percentage of the offshore market we want to take, I’m not going to tell you. We have never

announced a market share target for our offshore business. But what I’m saying is that we will reclaim a significant part of that market.’

TSAG-TSAG-TSAG

Asked for his vision of the offshore wind sector overall, Søe Jensen stresses that the industry has to move up to a higher

level if it wants to meet the European Commission’s 20/20 target. Søe Jensen: ‘We are talking about an industry that is between five and seven years old and has been moving at a breathtaking pace. However, the sector is still very much at the beginning of the learning curve. We must bring costs down. This means serial production of turbines, better financing, lower costs of energy and more business plan certainty for our customers. Basi-cally it’s all about the industrialisation of the sector. For me it’s also of great con-cern that we have the entire supply chain with us. Because don’t forget that in off-shore terms, the turbine itself is less than 50% of total costs. You have also the substructures, the cables, and the capa-city and know how about how to install. I’m certain we are going to see some new installation methods coming in, making the process more tsag-tsag-tsag. But for this to become a reality, we need many more qualified people who can execute wind farm projects successfully, and who really know about offshore construction and multi-contract handling. At the mo-ment there are very, very few experienced players in the field. Of course, there are contractors who already have the know-how, but if the expected take-off for the

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‘ For me it’s also of great concern that we have the entire supply chain with us’

sector really happens and the number of projects increases, there will still be a shortage of what I call brainpower. If, for example, a new installation vessel comes sailing in, but the owner doesn’t know how to operate it properly, it’s good for nothing. But that’s more or less the situation right now as I see it.’

CHINESE TAKEOVER

Vestas itself is also in need of more ‘arms, legs and brains’, as Søe Jensen puts it. The manufacturer is aiming to recruit 600 extra R&D employees for its existing R&D centres in Denmark, Germany, the US, Singapore and India, and for the R&D facility that is now being set up on the Isle of Wright in the South of England. This facility is replacing the blade factory that Vestas had on the island but which it closed in March 2009 because ‘of a lack of po-litical action in certain markets’ (read nimby-ism by local politicians). The new facility will be used for the develop-ment of large rotor blades and for tes-

ting prototypes for the offshore sector. Søe Jensen: ‘Development is key for us as well for our competitors. If we don’t keep up with our R&D efforts, we will certainly be taken over by China.’With its long term goal to supply ‘North-America from the USA’, ‘Europe from Europe’ and ‘Asia from Asia’, Ves-tas is currently building new factories in China, as well as in the US. ‘Vestas has been in China since 1968, and we are now by far the biggest foreign supplier,’ Søe Jensen underlines, adding that the company can also supply locally produ-ced offshore wind turbines in China. Indeed, in November near the city of Shanghai, where five months earlier Vestas was the lead sponsor of the Off-shore Wind China 2009 Conference, the Danish manufacturer opened its own foundry in Xuzhou. The suggestion that the factory for the production of the planned 6MW offshore turbine will also open its doors in China is described as pure speculation by Soe Jensen. ‘It’s an option. We’re talking about 750GW potential offshore wind in China. But

right now I can’t say whether this fac-tory will be built in Asia, Europe or the US.’

Vestas’ rival, Siemens, is only now entering the Chinese market. But the German manufacturer is opti-mistic about its growth perspective, underlining that it has an advantage over its competitors in the offshore wind sector while, as a large indu-strial group, it also has the ability to connect wind farms to the power grid. But that claim doesn’t seem to impress Søe Jensen: ‘That’s not ne-cessarily true. Just look at the facts. I’m still selling turbines, which me-ans I can compete.’

O F F S H O R E W I N D S E C T O R I N N E E D O F P U R P O S E B U I L D V E S S E L S T O M E E T P O L I T I C A L T A R G E T S

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I n s t a l l i n g o f f s h o r e w i n d f a r m s s t i l l v e r y m u c h l o o k s l i k e a r e -

g a t t a . A l l s o r t s o f s a i l i n g c r a f t s a r e b e i n g u s e d w i t h o u t b e i n g

r e a l l y s u i t e d f o r t h e j o b . S o f a r t h i s ‘ o f f t h e c u f f ’ a p p r o a c h t o

g e t t h i n g s i n p l a c e h a s w o r k e d . B u t i f t h e o f f s h o r e w i n d i n d u -

s t r y i s t o f u l l f i l l t h e a m b i t i o u s t a r g e t s e u r o p e a n g o v e r n m e n t s

a n d ‘ b r u s s e l s ’ h a v e s e t f o r t h e s e c t o r , i t u r g e n t l y i s i n n e e d o f

a w h o l e r a n g e o f l a r g e p u r p o s e b u i l d i n s t a l l a t i o n v e s s e l s .

‘The sector needs a stable market in which the industry can look ahead for at least five years, and with four to six offshore wind projects a year.’

O F F S H O R E W I N D S E C T O R I N N E E D O F P U R P O S E B U I L D V E S S E L S T O M E E T P O L I T I C A L T A R G E T S

48 WEATHER WINDOWS

Many of the installation vessels that are currently being used in the offshore wind sector are actually: too small, barely have enough lifting capacity, or are not as stable as they need to be. In these conditions, contractors need all of their ingenuity to get the job done. But despite their admirable talent for improvi-sation, the installation process is often hampered by the ineffi-ciency of this hotchpotch armada. Other boats, such as some of the heavy lift crane vessels that are available, were built for the oil & gas sector and are, therefore, too large and un-necessarily ‘gold-plated’ for the offshore wind business, resulting in exces-sive daily rates.A good example of what is called the regatta model in the sec-tor is the Thorton Bank wind farm-project near the coast of Belgium. As many as 48 different types of vessels, including several jack-up platforms and the shearlegs crane, Rambiz, were involved during the first phase of this project, which involved the installation of six gravity-based Repower 5 MW turbines in 12-27m deep waters, 28km off the coast near Ostend. ‘This required huge planning because each and every vessel has its own specific weather window in which it can operate,’ general director Philip Martens of the developer, C-Power, recently explained during a case study-session. He continued: ‘Every 4 hours we received new weather forecasts which influenced the whole cascade of the development at sea. Sometimes, taking into account the daily rate of the vessels, we had to change our overall project planning’.

BIG AND FAST

‘We need to get bigger to become better at installation’ mana-ging director Aidan Cronin of Merchant Green recently told an audience of offshore wind experts. ‘Even today projects are one-offs, which makes it very difficult to assess the risks and the costs,’ the Danish consultant stressed when explaining why contractors are hesitant about investing in dedicated large ves-sels. A steady flow of offshore work is essential for the sector to professionalise and become more efficient, and until now this has not been possible. For years, ‘offshore wind’ hasn’t been happening as quickly as expected, mainly because of indecisive governments. Cronin: ‘The sector needs a stable market in which the industry can look ahead for at least five years, and with four to six offshore wind projects a year.’But since December 2008, when the European Union agreed on a binding target of 20% renewable energy by 2020, the future for the sector looks a lot brighter. Governments of North Sea countries in particular now seem to be convinced that only by making offshore wind farms possible on a large scale can the 20/20 target be met. Translating this new political resolve into a willingness within the offshore wind industry to invest in new, purpose built boats is the next stage, and Cronin expects that by 2012 the sector will have at least five larger, dedicated installation vessels. He also foresees that in the years which fol-low, this fleet will expand to 25 boats. Currently, however, the Dutch Group MPI Vroon’s Resolution is the only custom built offshore wind installation vessel capable of working in water that is more than 30m deep. Henrik Lynderup, head of Siemens Wind Power’s technology

A C C O R D I N G T O T H E R E P O R T W I T H 1 .5 G W I N S T A L L E D T O D A Y,

T H E O F F S H O R E W I N D S E C T O R W I L L S H O R T L Y L E A V E T H E

‘ D E M O N S T R A T I O N P H A S E ’ T O E N T E R A P H A S E O F S T R O N G

I N D U S T R I A L G R O W T H : ‘ I N T H E C O M I N G Y E A R S , T H E M A I N F O C U S

W I L L B E O N S T A N D A R D I S I N G T H E I N S T A L L A T I O N P R O C E S S E S S

A N D D E V E L O P I N G D E D I C A T E D O F F S H O R E T U R B I N E S F R O M A

D E D I C A T E D S U P P L Y C H A I N , J U S T A S I T W A S F O R O N S H O R E W I N D

1 5 Y E A R S A G O . ’

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and engineering unit, also sees room for substantial impro-vement on offshore installation sites: ‘Siemens, as a turbine manufacturer today, is limited by the capabilities of the vessels in the market. It isn’t possible to assemble more of the turbine onshore because the vessels cannot handle these bigger struc-tures. For the future we see further cost reductions of ten to 20 percent, depending on how far we can go with assemblage onshore.’According to Lynderup, the solution to having to handle more projects per year is simple: ‘We have to do our work faster.

Therefore, we need equipment capable of working the whole year round instead of only from March to October. That would optimise the economy of the whole project and would give us a better utilisation of equipment and manpower. Looking at the North Sea market we need big and fast vessels with a reach of some 350 nautical miles and capable of loading a lot of turbi-nes.’ Many other experts in the sector share this vision. All believe that offshore wind farms will become larger and be built further out at sea with bigger and heavier components. Most of the European projects will be installed in water that is 30-40 metres deep. There is a strong belief in the market that for the job of turbine installation, self-elevating vessels/platforms are best suited to operating in these waters, offering a large and stable work platform.As speed counts when it comes to the installation of turbines, especially in view of weather window restrictions, the cruising speed of the new vessels is also seen as an important factor. The same applies to the jacking system capacity and speed and cra-ne capacity and outreach. Yet there is still disagreement about the type, size and number of crafts that will emerge from the drawing board. A general belief is that the ideal vessel does not exist, and that the usability of a boat varies per project, depen-ding on the size of the turbines and foundations, water depth, distance to the shore, and the installation strategy. Contractors in particular need to make up their minds about whether they would invest in large, self-propelled multiple jack-up vessels or plump for the option of a high speed feeder vessel combined with a jack-up platform.

EXTREMELY DEMANDING

In its latest report ‘Oceans of Opportunity’, the EWEA con-firms that with only 1.5 GW installed, the offshore wind sector today is still very much in its infancy, with each project having its own approach. Yet according to the survey presented in September at the 2009 European Offshore Wind Conference in Stockholm, the sector will soon leave the ‘demonstration phase’ and enter a period of strong industrial growth: ‘In the

coming years, the main focus will be on standardising the in-stallation processes and developing dedicated offshore turbines from a dedicated supply chain, just as it was for onshore wind 15 years ago.’The EWEA calls the availability of purpose built installation ves-sels a critical factor if its market vision for Europe, the instal-lation of 10,000 offshore wind turbines (40 GW) by 2020, is to come true. According to the organisation, to increase the num-ber of days of operation from an estimated 180 a year to 260-290, such vessels must be able to install offshore wind farms in medium water depths (30-40m and beyond) and operate in harsh conditions. Compared to the oil and gas sector, the EWEA describes the in-stallation processes for the offshore wind industry as ‘extremely demanding’ because of the greater number of operational days and the repetitive installation processes. ‘Many [of the] instal-lation vessels that are now being used in the sector are not ideal for such conditions. Their equipment is often not up-to-date as most [of the] up-to-date vessels are booked by the oil and gas industry’. So far as the types of vessels that will be needed are concerned, the EWEA distinguishes three strategies for the development of future offshore wind farms: the pre-assembly of turbines at the harbour (turbine components are shipped to the local construc-tion port), manufacture and pre-assembly at the harbour, and assembly offshore. In this latter case, a feeder vessel shuttles from the manufacturing site to a jack-up platform at the wind farm site, whereas in the first two examples, a high speed jack-up vessel shuttles from the construction port to the wind farm. Like Siemens, the EWEA believes that most of the offshore as-sembly should be done on land to avoid the sensitive and time

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consuming element of the lifting operation at sea. To ensure that this ‘one lift’ concept of fully erected turbines becomes the reality, the organisation stresses that the offshore wind indus-try should be located near to harbours in order to optimise an operation and reduce costs. A showcase from this perspective is Bremerhaven. Focussing on offshore wind energy since the early 2000s, this German port now has accommodation for two offshore wind turbine manufacturers (REpower and Multibrid). Yet, as the EWEA underlines, at least two or three more of these logistical centres need to be created in the region.

RELUCTANT BANKS

The EWEA emphasises that the current technology trend will favour large-scale vessels able to carry multiple pre-assembled wind turbines. On the basis of a minimum capacity of ten turbines, ten sets of blades, and ten tower sections, the organi-sation calculates that by 2020, 12 of these large vessels will be required. According to the EWEA, each could cost in the region of 200 million Euros, with a total investment of 2.4 billion being required.In addition to the turbine installation vehicles, the EWEA also stresses that only a few vessels, such as the Svanen (Bal-last Nedam), the Eide (Eide Marine Services), and the Rambiz (Scaldis) are now available for heavy foundation installations. As offshore wind farms increase in both number and size, and the industry migrates into deeper waters, the demand for large-scale vessels that can handle major substructures like jackets, tripods, and gravity based structures will also grow. Because of this bigger-further-deeper trend, Kai Lindvig, managing director of the offshore constructor, A2SEA, expects the sector to end up with two types of vessels within ten years, one for the instal-lation of turbines and one for the installation of foundations.In its survey, the EWEA refers to a number of existing plans to build the new large capacity vehicles, such as the Blue Ocean Ships multiple carrier concept and the Gaoh Offshore vessel from the Danish naval architects OSK-ShipTech. The EWEA calls the second model an ‘ideal example’, since it has a planned capacity of 18 x 3.6 MW wind turbines, including towers and rotors. Yet the organisation adds that many of the planned vessels lack sufficient finance to be built. Banks are in-

creasingly reluctant to take risks because of the financial crisis. To ensure that investors do come across on time, the EWEA is putting pressure on the European Investment Bank to take the necessary measures to support the risk related to these signifi-cant investments. Because of the difficulty in getting these very large-scale ves-sels financed, some market researchers believe that parties will prefer to invest in ships of a more modest size. ‘Two vessels of 150 million Euros per unit also offer more operating flexibility than one giant vessel of 250 million Euros,’ one of them adds.

He also suggests that the industry may, at some point over the coming years, be allowed to migrate back to shallow waters near to the coast on the basis that the public will, by then, have learnt to appreciate offshore wind turbines. Of course this is crystal ball gazing, but it does illustrate why the industry is having such a hard time in deciding which types of vessels are really needed.

Despite the EWEA’s attempt to speed up investments, New Energy Finance doubts whether the new large scale vessels will come to the market on time. The London based consultancy fo-recasts a shortage of installation capacity after 2011. However, like Merchant Green, the Danish company, MAKE Consulting, foresees that sufficient installation capacity will be in the mar-ket around 2013-2014. The fact is that MPI Vroon has ordered two larger GustoMSC design installation vessels (Discovery and Adventure) that the Chinese shipyard, Cosco Nantong, will deliver in 2011. Beluga Hochtief Offshore is developing four next generation installation ships. According to this German joint venture, the first vessel of this new type will be launched in 2012. The German utilityRWE Innogy has plans to order at least two installation vessels of its own (Schiffko design). And Bard Engineering will start operating its own GustoMSC designed vessel, Wind Lift 1, this year. Other vessel developers like Gaoh, Blue Ocean Ships and IHC Merwede also expect to announce orders this year.

There are also some different concepts for future heavy foun-dation vessels. For the transportation and installation of con-crete foundations in particular, there are the options of either a relatively simple unmanned barge or a self-propelled dumb

SUFFICIENT INSTALLATION CAPACITY WILL BE IN THE MARKET AROUND 2013-2014

vessel. An example of the first kind is BMT Nigel Gee’s design of a towed barge that can carry and install a 3500 ton structure by remote control. The French group, Saipem, has embarked on the other option with the design of the Castoro Vento. This self-propelled float-over device, with a maximum payload of 7500 tons, is designed for the installation of a complete tur-bine with its support structure in one sequence. The support structure may be concrete gravity bases, steel tripods, or jackets, depending on water depth and soil conditions. The German contractor Züblin developed a similar type of vessel based on a catamaran-design. This vessel, with a payload of 7000 tons, is due to enter service in 2011.

MURPHY’S FIRST COUSIN

In its report, the EWEA only briefly mentions other barriers to offshore wind deployment, such as the need for more cable laying vessels. More particularly, there will be also be a requi-

rement for large vessels to install the converter stations neces-sary to connect the future offshore wind farms to the onshore power grid. The first sub-station of this kind in the world was installed in May 2009 to link the German offshore wind farm, Borkum 2, to the German grid. The Dutch Heerema Group likewise installed the 4800 ton sub-station with its semi-sub-mersible crane vessel, Thialf. Finally, the EWEA also mentions the shortage of offshore per-sonnel trained to operate all of these new large-scale boats at the required security level. As a growing number of contractors are now entering the offshore wind industry, this may become a serious problem. It is perhaps because the industry does not yet pay the attention it should to training and security that Ai-dan Cronin of Merchant Green, as a keynote speaker, also likes to teach audiences about ‘Hung’s law of offshore wind’, with Hung being Murphy’s first cousin: ‘If anything can go wrong it will go wrong, at least twice but never on the same project’.