Offshore
However, should floating wind turbines become the predominant form of offshore wind power, what would that mean for WTIV operators? “If you look to 2035–40, and beyond that, then we start to really look at the potential of floating wind being a big concern from a WTIV perspective. We are positive about floating wind, but it is a risk factor to keep in mind when constructing a WTIV,” Lysne says. “But I think you would still see that we have enough projects to make the investment worthwhile until then.”
The Jones Act A Fred. Olsen
Windcarrier vessel used to install wind turbines at offshore locations.
[of wind turbines] and future proofing themselves for the next generation,” says Lysne. Other parts of the industry are preparing for the future by upgrading their fleets. Fred. Olsen Windcarrier and Cadeler have both been busy, working to double the crane size of their vessels from a carrying capacity of 800t to 1,600t. Cadeler also has new builds under construction. Of course, you can only upgrade a vessel up to a certain point – the width of the ship will influence how much weight the legs of the crane can bear.
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Rystad Energy 16
Vessel years required to meet demand for 8MW turbines or higher in 2021.
Vessel years required to meet demand for 8MW turbines or higher in 2030.
And with the changes made to these vessels, they will be able to stay in use for longer, as enlarging the base number of WTIVs will help to develop the operations and management market. When the size of wind turbines eventually outstrips these vessels and they no longer have the crane capacity to lift a whole nacelle, these ships will still be able to be repurposed for blade replacement and decommissioning work at the end of a turbine’s lifecycle. Similarly, even if WTIVs are no longer able to function in some markets, there will still be space for them in others. Asia, Lysne notes, has been lagging behind Europe and the US in terms of turbine sizes for a while now, because its wind farms are located in shallower waters closer to the shore. This trend is beginning to change, but there will still be some demand for lower-size turbines in Asia in years to come. There has already been some movement with WTIVs initially built for work in Europe transitioning over to projects in Asia. It’s also worth noting that the development of the floating wind sector will ultimately lessen the reliance on WTIVs. In the past, floating wind has been held back by its high cost, but those costs are gradually coming down. Floating wind turbines don’t require WTIVs – they can be installed dockside and then towed out to sea. Floating wind energy offers a number of benefits over traditional offshore turbines – they can be placed even further out at sea where there are higher levels of wind, as they don’t need to be built into the seafloor.
Of course, there are other challenges that are holding back the development of new-build WTIVs. In the US, the Jones Act is a century-old federal law requires goods shipped between US ports to be transported on ships that are built in the US, mostly owned by US entities, and operated by US citizens or permanent residents. In theory, this prevents vessels built outside the US from operating on US wind farm projects. Compounding this issue is the fact that it’s far more expensive to build WTIVs in the US. One big new build by Dominion Energy is costing around $500m, yet in Asia a vessel of around the same size, or even slightly larger, is being built for offshore wind installation company Eneti at a total cost of $330m. For many companies, this additional expense will turn them away from constructing their own ships, and instead look for ways to circumvent the Jones Act. Some European operators, like Maersk, are now building WTIVs targeting the US market – the vessels will simply operate out of non-US bases, such as ports in Canada, and use Jones-Act-compliant feeder vessels to deliver the crew and components. “Given the current climate, and the fact that several projects will now use a feeder vessel strategy in the US, it’s going to be difficult to justify the more expensive US-built, Jones Act WTIV,” says Lysne. “The US Maritime Administration (MARAD) has just announced a ship financing package for wind vessels. Policy changes like this could make more Jones Act WTIVs more likely.” However, this workaround process adds another layer of complexity, as it requires the feeder vessels to bring components out to the WTIVs at sea. Lifting and transporting these objects from moving vessels create new points of failure, and is all but unproven at the kind of scale that the new large turbines will require.
While there is still some space for optimism, if the world is truly serious about meeting its 2030 targets, much more needs to be done to address the lack of WTIVs in the coming years. If there’s one thing that’s certain, it’s that offshore turbines are going to keep on growing in size, and that needs to be matched by the industry’s ambition. If not, and we see more projects put in place than the global WTIV fleet is able to handle, the bottleneck that this will cause will be a major headache for the industry for years to come. ●
World Wind Technology /
www.worldwind-technology.com
Karsten Larsen/
Shutterstock.com
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