Power & Energy Solutions

The premier renewable energy publication

Exclusive Articles, Talking Point, Wind

Since the beginning of this year, US states together have committed to approximately 8,200 MW of offshore wind by 2030. This is a substantial amount of work and provides a visible pipeline of work justifying investments in dedicated and efficient installation solutions. Are these the right conditions to invest in a new build installation jack-up? PES explores the opportunities and hurdles with GustoMSC, a design and engineering company of mobile offshore units and equipment. There is an increasing interest from companies looking to participate in the US offshore wind installation market. Various parties are investigating and preparing in order to be able to invest in the construction of a wind turbine installation jack-up in the future. Parties are considering designs, potential shipyards and discussing with developers and turbine manufacturers. There have been several announcements but to date no company appears to have made a solid commitment to build yet. What are the bottlenecks why are commitments not forthcoming? Last year, the States of Massachusetts, New York and Rhode Island published a report ‘U.S. Jones Act Compliant Offshore Wind Turbine Installation Vessel Study’. GustoMSC has been working on this report for the New York State Energy Research and Development Agency (NYSERDA). The report is

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Exclusive Articles, PES Essential, Wind

The state of flux in the UK’s onshore wind sector has never been more apparent than at present. On the one hand, wind energy and other renewable energy sources are currently generating over a quarter of power consumption across the UK annually, at a price cheaper than gas and nuclear, all while enjoying the highest level of public support. At the same time, however, national policy and regulatory backing is at a particularly low ebb, and investor confidence has been dented to such a degree that the pipeline for new development has largely stalled. Recent years have seen the cessation of both the Renewables Obligation (RO) scheme and Contract for Difference (CfD) support for onshore renewables, coupled with the rapid degression of Feed-in-Tariff (FiT) payments for all renewables prior to its phase-out in March 2019. These support mechanisms enabled a staggering build-out of onshore wind capacity equal to nearly 5GW since 2012, with some 2.6GW of new generation installed in 2017 alone. In combination, onshore and offshore wind contributed approximately 45% of the UK’s total renewables capacity, resulting in some 37,400 megawatt hours of annual generation. This is roughly equivalent to the domestic power consumption of 12 million homes, offsetting in the range of

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Exclusive Articles, PES Essential, Wind

Digitisation and Industry 4.0 are causing the wind industry to rethink how it does business. Sustainable growth is a constant entrepreneurial challenge. The market is characterised by continuous evolution that never takes a break. However, unlike biological evolution, companies can decide for themselves to a large extent how they want to develop. The automation and digitisation of the working world is one of the greatest entrepreneurial changes of our time, and it challenges the wind industry to its core. Where does the industry stand in this process of change? It is exciting to see that wind turbine maintenance offers far more potential for development than many might think. Deutsche Windtechnik, a specialist maintenance provider for wind turbines, has internalised the principles of Industry 4.0 and is now at the forefront of this development. Expecting a revolution The process has been in full swing for years. Ever-shorter development cycles in numerous areas are increasing the speed of change management. Information is available more quickly worldwide. Trends are being circulated around the globe very quickly and products are changing and being placed on the market in ever shorter cycles. At the same time, the range of potential decision-making options is increasing rapidly. This can

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Exclusive Articles, Talking Point, Wind

After many years of renewables being somewhat the ‘Cinderella’ of the energy industry, it is fascinating to see that it is now offshore wind power driving innovation and its smart solutions are being taken up by the well-established oil and gas sector. A good example was highlighted recently when Damen’s first Service Operations Vessel (SOV), which was purpose-built for the offshore wind market, entered the oil and gas business on a three-year contract. The SOV - with Walk-to-Work capability - is dedicated to the transfer and accommodation of offshore personnel but its design was essentially developed from the requirements of the North Sea offshore wind market. The first vessel, Bibby WaveMaster 1, owned by Bibby Marine Services Ltd, was introduced to the market in 2017 and she headed straight to the offshore wind market in the southern North Sea. However, less than a year later, Bibby WaveMaster 1 will begin a major contract for Total E&P Nederland. Bibby Marine Services announced that Total E&P Nederland will charter the vessel to access gas platforms in the North Sea from April to October this year, but this has now been extended to three years. Three-year contract for Bibby WaveMaster 1 Although there are many synergies between both

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Corporate Focus, Exclusive Articles, Wind

Buss Offshore Solutions GmbH & Co. KG is a member of the Buss Group in Hamburg. It was founded in 1920 as a stevedoring company. Today, it is made up of several units, which are active in different areas of maritime logistics. One of them is the Buss Offshore Solutions GmbH. Right from the start the company, which is also located in Hamburg, has been an active player in the offshore wind logistics industry, and has established itself successfully in this specific business sector. Focusing on heavy, challenging loads, a team with international experience develops tailor-made logistic solutions for its customers. Buss Offshore Solutions handles the project planning and management at all stages between the manufacturing plants and the offshore installation sites: from handling, trans-shipment and interim storage to pre-assembly, maintenance and the required engineering services. This logistics consultant has its own terminals such as the Orange Blue Terminal, Eemshaven in the North Sea and the Mukran Port Terminals, Sassnitz in the Baltic Sea. Additionally Buss Offshore Solutions offers its know-how by consulting international clients during all stages of port development, project preparation or project execution. Meanwhile we have successfully completed our fourteenth major project, including various offshore wind projects such as Veja Mate, Gemini,

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Exclusive Articles, Think Tank, Wind

Is there anything that can be done to prevent or protect against corrosion? This is a question which preoccupies many in our industry. There are many types of corrosion, which in fact is a natural process, so it seems it’s like trying to hold back the tide. Is there anything that we mere humans can do to stop it? Jo van Montfort, director and coating specialist at Bjond, gives PES his expertise and thoughts on ‘atmospheric corrosion’. What is corrosion? As all material in the universe strives to return to its lowest energy state, pure metals, such as steel also strive to revert to their lowest energy state, which they were as sulphides or oxides. All man-made structures disintegrate until the lowest energy content is reached. A well-known example of this is corroding or rusting of steel, in which the energy that is supplied to make the steel out of ore is released again and the material disintegrates into rust. Unprotected, unalloyed steel or carbon steel exposed to a marine environment gets back to where it came from unless we add energy to it. This can be done e.g. by applying a protective coating for the parts above the water line. These parts

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Exclusive Articles, PES Essential, Wind

WINDPOWER is being held in Chicago this year. Wind energy is gathering more and more momentum in the US. Every year AWEA strives attract new and diverse groups to the conference, with the aim of sparking new conversations, new connections and new ideas and 2018 is no exception. PES brings you the show preview of what is expected to be the US wind energy event of the year. AWEA WINDPOWER 2018 Wind power continues to lift the American economy. The industry closed 2017 strong, delivering 7,017 megawatts (MW) of new wind power capacity. That new capacity represents $11 billion in new private investment. There are now 89,077 MW of wind power installed across 41 states, enough to power 26 million American homes. The wind industry is powering forward to continue growth into 2018 and beyond. WINDPOWER is where the industry comes together to plan for the future and keep this success story growing. If you are invested in U.S. wind energy or looking to enter the market, AWEA WINDPOWER 2018 Conference & Exhibition is the place you need to be. It is where professionals from across the globe find top-tier speakers, world-class education, cutting edge technology, and premium networking. This complete conference experience

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Press Releases, Renewable News, Wind

The first Hornsea Project One substation topside, Z12, has been installed at the site 120km off the Yorkshire coast. Hornsea Project One will be the biggest wind farm in the world when it is operational in 2020, taking the record from Orsted’s Walney Extension wind farm whose final turbine was installed this week. 174 turbines will generate enough electricity for well over one million homes. The Z12 offshore substation is one of three which will collect the electricity from the turbines, and transform it to a higher voltage so it can be exported to shore with fewer losses. Due to the unprecedented cable lengths from being located so far offshore, a reactive compensation station will also be installed between the wind farm and the landfall; a first for an offshore wind farm. The offshore substation topsides have been manufactured by Bladt Industries, and installed by Semco Maritime using the Saipem 7000 vessel. ABOUT Ørsted The Ørsted vision is a world that runs entirely on green energy. Ørsted develops, constructs and operates offshore wind farms, bioenergy plants and innovative waste-to-energy solutions and provides smart energy products to its customers. Headquartered in Denmark, Ørsted employs 5,600 people, including over 900 in the UK. Ørsted's shares

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Press Releases, Renewable News, Wind

Tekmar Energy (Tekmar), the global leader in Cable Protection Systems (CPS) for offshore wind farms has been awarded multiple contracts by Van Oord to supply their systems for both the Deutsche Bucht and BorWin3 projects. Deutsche Bucht is a 252 MW offshore wind farm owned by Northland Power which will consist of 31 8 MW MHI Vestas wind turbines (8,4 MW power mode). Located in the German Bight, 95 kilometres northwest of the island of Borkum, installation is planned to start in the second half of 2018. Tekmar will supply its market leading CPS to protect the 35 inter-array cables planned on the project. The CPS is to be tailored for the project to cater for all different cable sizes applied and respective interface to the monopile foundations. BorWin3 is a 900 MW DC grid connection system of the Dutch-German transmission system operator TenneT. BorWin3will convert three-phase electric power generated by offshore wind farms into direct current and transmit it 160 km back to shore. Tekmar will supply its export cable protection system to protect the 3 export cables between the Hohe See offshore wind farm and BorWin gamma, the corresponding offshore converter platform of BorWin3. Tekmar is also supplying its systems

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Press Releases, Renewable News, Wind

French floating offshore wind leader Ideol and Acacia Renewables, a wholly owned Japanese renewable energy development platform of Macquarie Capital, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) in March aiming at developing Japan’s first utility scale commercial floating offshore wind farm. Both companies are working together, in the development of the project off the coast of Japan. The project will draw upon Ideol’s patented Damping Pool® technology and Acacia’s extensive experience in project origination, development and financing with the support of Macquarie Capital’s expertise in managing offshore wind assets. Construction is currently set for 2023. David Povall, CEO of Acacia Renewables, says: “We are truly excited about the development of the energy sector and opportunities in delivering large scale offshore projects in Japan. Bringing into Japan the global renewables capabilities and experience will hopefully deliver a step change in the speed and cost of deployment.” “We are extremely proud to have a global powerhouse recognize the pertinence of our technology which is particularly compatible with tomorrow’s very large wind turbines and increasingly higher local content expectations. The signing of such agreement clearly demonstrates that after 2 full-scale demonstrators on 2 different continents and a pre-commercial array we are now ready for the next stage:

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