Q OFFSHORE RENEWABLES


WINDS OF CHANGE


Offshore wind support needs to respond positively to increasing operational and cost demands, says sector expert Ian Baylis, managing director of Seacat Services


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Ian Baylis: The OESV sector must invest in equipment and personnel


he good times are coming. Following a slight lull in new offshore wind construction that led to a tricky


couple of years for offshore energy support vessel (OESV) operators, the sector is regaining stability and fi nally settling down for a period of sustained activity. That’s not to say that the


market is without its challenges. We often read about how falling offshore wind prices might threaten supply chain quality, and – as active participants in that supply chain – OESV operators will naturally be concerned about meeting the growing demands of project owners, and maintaining a steady infl ux of trained personnel. However, as the OESV sector,


as well as the industry it supports, matures, operators that stick to the


proven formula – consisting of safety and availability – should fi nd themselves well-placed to meet these challenges. The UK offshore wind industry


has been in a celebratory mood since September’s Contracts for Difference auctions in which the cost per megawatt hour of offshore wind fell dramatically to spot prices of just £57.50. This fall in prices is attributable


to the increasing maturity of the sector, which is allowing projects to benefi t from economies of scale, and signifi cant advances in technology which are improving turbine effi ciency. But falling prices inevitably


have a knock-on effect. With developers under pressure to build projects at lower subsidy rates, this drive to cut costs is transferred to the supply chain, and OESV operators won’t be immune to this. The industry must


maintain awareness of this challenge, and work to ensure that cost-cutting does not lead to corner-cutting, leaving projects – and personnel – vulnerable to human error or mismanagement. The challenge of falling costs is compounded by changing operational demands. The industry is developing at a rate of knots and, as project profi les become larger and more ambitious, they increasingly require vessels to be on site several days at a time. This necessitates revisions to crew shifts and rotations in order to minimise the risk of fatigue, as well as the ability of vessels to refuel at sea, and collaboration with an increasingly diverse fl eet of larger specialised vessels, such as so-called ‘fl oatels’ and SOVs. The increasing scale and


number of offshore projects in development and under


construction also poses challenges with regard to personnel. All of the signs suggest that a shortage of skilled crew may arise in the near future, unless action is taken now to create the training and certifi cation opportunities young seafarers need to enter this sector. These threats to the stability of


the sector are not insubstantial. However, they can be overcome, provided that the OESV industry, as well as the wider supply chain, collaborates to ensure that operators are consistently held to the highest standards of safety and availability. Availability has always been


the key commercial metric by which OESV operators are judged. It can be measured in terms of


capability (what can the vessel, its master and crew do, and how cost-effectively), and in terms of technical reliability (how much redundancy is built into the vessel itself to avoid downtime, and how well the back offi ce is set up to get things back on track should something go wrong). Availability, therefore,


depends in equal measure on equipment and personnel – and that has to be refl ected in the investment made in both. With the number of new


OESV operators will be under pressure to cut costs – but this must not lead to lower operational standards vessels in build starting to fall, and


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