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NETHERLANDS

Capacities to be auctioned

INSTALLATION

Market overview of vessels

WIND INDUSTRYWIND INDUSTRYOff shore

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NETHERLANDSINSTALLATION TURBINES

Dwindling dominance

Monopile foundations currently dominate the market. But their dominance is dwindling, especially as jackets may become competitively priced thanks to new fastening technologies.

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Innovative marine & offshore solutions

• Drilling and piling of large diameter monopiles• Installation of transition pieces• Jacket installation (pre-piling / post-piling)• Grouting activities• Wind turbine erection• Installation works with Jack-Up platforms• Foundation and wind turbine logistics• EPCI contracts• Accommodation units• Directional drilling

1. Heavy Lift Vessel ‘Innovation’ installing XL Monopiles and Transition Pieces at the Westermost Rough project (UK).

2. The Jack-Up ‘Neptune’ installing Monopiles and Transition pieces on the Northwind project (BE).

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GeoSea nvMember of the DEME GroupHaven 1025 - Scheldedijk 30 . B-2070 Zwijndrecht, Belgium T +32 3 250 53 12 . F +32 3 250 55 [email protected] . www.deme-group.com/geosea

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mailto:[email protected]

http://www.deme-group.com/geosea

3

Katharina Garus

Editor

[email protected]

editorial

C hinese companies are pushing onto the

offshore wind power market. Sany, a Chi-

nese mechanical engineering company

and wind turbine manufacturer, has handed over a

Green Energy Commitment to the Indian Prime Min-

ister Narendra Modi. By 2020 the company wants

to put 3 billion US dollars into offshore wind power

technology . Sany aims to implement 2,000 MW of

renewable energy projects in India. The company will

bring in “relevant expertise, operational excellence and

global best practices for development of renewable

energy”, Sany claims in a statement.

It was also made public recently that China Three

Gorges Corporation, one of the largest energy com-

panies in the world, has agreed with the Portuguese

energy company EDPR to purchase up to 30 % of the

shares of Moray Offshore Renewables (MORL). MORL

is currently 100 % owned by EDPR and is developing an

offshore wind farm in the Scottish bay of Moray Firth.

The 1,000 MW project still has to come out of the next

CfD round successfully, however.

While Chinese companies are busily pushing onto

new offshore wind power markets, the Chinese market

itself remains poorly accessible to foreign companies.

Samuel Leupold from Dong Energy also reports on this,

and you can read the interview on page 122.

Leupold does not wish to complain about this,

though. Instead, he looks towards alternatives, for

Dong Energy certainly wishes to expand globally. The

company has an eye on the USA – obviously, as well

as Taiwan. The market there seems to be developing

into a promising market faster than in other places and

European companies can score points there especially

thanks to their track records.

But it would certainly be wrong to think that the Eu-

ropeans were the only ones to have discovered this up-

and-coming market. Taiwan will also be looking prom-

ising to the Chinese, especially as Chinese companies

can score over the Europeans in terms of proximity . For

Europeans wishing to get a foothold in the Taiwanese

offshore wind business there is thus one main priority:

to move quickly.

It pays to be fast


4 OFFSHORE WIND INDUSTRY 4|2015

project update . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

news . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

imprint . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

interview

Samuel Leupold, Dong Energy

OWI spoke with Samuel Leupold, CEO at Dong Energy

Wind Power, about the company’s planned IPO as well

as the future orientation of the company. . . . . . . . . . . . 12

spotlight foundations

Upside down

Monopile or jacket? That’s not the only question when

it comes to foundations. Upside down buckets are

making a comeback in foundation fixing. They have

already demonstrated their suitability. . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Simple but clever

The principle of gravity foundations may be simple

but they are having a hard time gaining a foothold in

the market. A new concept with sand silos providing

anchorage aims to change this. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

science & technology

Thinking big

The offshore market is currently a heady mix of top

marks for performance and rotor diameters on the one

hand and mergers on the other. The purpose is the

same: slashing costs.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

logistics & operationsTime is money

The construction of offshore wind farms has become a

routine activity, but it still takes too long. In order to

save time it is necessary to define technically feasible

limits for the individual stages of the process. . . . . . 26

Gloves are not just gloves

The working gear worn for offshore work is not just

a question of comfort – it’s important for safety. This

is true of marine abandonment suits and even of

gloves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

politics & business

Under pressure

Insurance premiums for the construction phase of

offshore wind farms are falling. The prospect of good

business with just a moderate risk of losses is attracting

new insurance companies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

Going once, going twice, sold!

The Dutch government will be auctioning off 700 MW

of offshore wind power annually until 2019. The

tender process will begin in 2016. This means that

the offshore wind industry is off to a fresh start. . . . 42

events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

dates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

wab internal. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

outlook . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

contents

Phot

o: S

wire

Blu

e O

cean

Cove

r ph

oto:

Bilf

inge

r M

arin

e &

Off

shor

e Sy

stem

s

Think inside the box

Meet us at EWEA 2015 in ParisNov. 17-20th

booth M01

AD_SWT-7.0-154_200x280_EWEA_RZ.indd 1 14.10.15 12:51

E.ON has inaugurated Humber Gateway. 73 turbines of type V112 from Vestas are installed.

VBMS has started inner park cable laying at Sandbank.

All Vestas turbines at 50 MW Kentish Flats Extension feed power to the grid.

EEW has received an order for 51 monopiles for the 165 MW Belwind 2 wind farm. Jan De Nul will de-velope the project on behalf of Nobelwind.

Siemens and Fluor together have to pay a £ 650,000 fine because of a fatal accident and one person seriously injured during installation work at Greater Gabbard.

WIND INDUSTRY

and one person seriously injured during installation work at work at work at Greater Gabbard

WIND INDUSTRYOff shore


Construction work on the 400 MW Rampion wind farm has started. The first monopiles are planned to be set in January 2016.

VBMS has completed two 1,170-metre long horizon-tal directional drillings at the landfall for Dudgeon offshore wind farm.

DeepOcean will provide installation and trenching works for Dong Energy’s Walney Extension and EEW will deliver the 87 foundations.

The authorities have refused permission for Navitus Bay. The reason is the visibility from the UNESCO protected coast of Dorset. The project is no longer expected to be built.

Project update

Eneco has opened the 129 MW Luchterduinen wind farm. A total of 43 Vestas turbines of type V112 are installed.

At Anholt’s 25 km long export cable repair works are running. This is estimated to take one month.

Bard Offshore 1 is running again at full speed. The disturbances in the electrical connection lasted for over a year. Dutch offshore contractor

Van Oord has finalised the installation of the 150 foundations at Gemini. The first offshore transformer station is on place.

The last of a total of 97 monopiles for Gode Wind 1 and 2 are set. FoundOcean has completed grouting.

The 288 MW Butendiek wind farm has been inaugu-rated. It took 15 months to build it and it took 15 years until construction could have started.

EnBW celebrated the commissioning of Baltic 2. 80 turbines of type SWT-3.6-120 from Siemens are installed.

Fred. Olsen Windcarrier takes over transportation and installation of the 5 MW turbines from Adwen for the 350 MW Wikinger wind farm. Construction is supposed to start in the beginning of 2017.

in operation

partially in operation

under construction

planned

7

Dong Energy has offi-cially inaugurated Borkum Riffgrund 1. 78 turbines of type SWT-3.6-120 from Siemens are installed.

8 offshore Wind industry 4|2015

Adwen and Fraunhofer IWES have

signed an agreement to test the

drive train for Adwen’s 8 MW

turbine at IWES’s DyNaLab test

stand in Bremerhaven.

The DyNaLab (Dynamic

Nacelle Testing Laboratory) is

one of the world’s largest and the

most versatile test facility for na

celle testing. It was inaugurated on

October 20th. Fraunhofer IWES has

invested around € 35 million over

the past years to design and build

the facility. “We expect to offer the

wind industry valuable support

for a more reliable design process

and faster secure market introduc

tion of new wind turbines,” says

Jan Wenske, Deputy Director of

Fraunhofer IWES.

The testing for Adwen will

cover mechanical testing on the

integral chain of drive train com

ponents. By simulating operational

conditions as well as offshore con

ditions for extreme and fatigue

loads, a critical move forward will

be achieved in the verification of

gearbox, bearings, couplings, shaft,

generator and converter. The pro

cess will allow individual and fully

inte grated subsystems’ validation

as well as complete drive train

operation at full power, paramount

for derisking before prototype

intstallation in 2016.

Adwen’s 8 MW turbine has al

ready been selected for a pipeline

of projects reaching almost 1.5 GW.

Its serial production is scheduled to

start in 2018, at Adwen’s industrial

sites in France and Germany. Phot

o: A

dwen

Mainstream has successfully concluded its negotia-

tions with Dong Energy for the sale of its remaining

interest in SMart Wind.

SMart Wind Ltd. offshore wind consortium is a

joint venture between Mainstream Renewable Power

and Siemens Financial Services, which was formed

in 2009 to successfully bid for and then to develop

the 4,000 MW Hornsea Offshore Wind Zone in the

UK North Sea as part of The Crown Estate’s Round 3.

Dong Energy bought the first phase of the Hornsea

Zone in February 2015 from Mainstream and Siemens

Financial Services. In acquiring SMart Wind, Dong

will continue the development of the remainder

of the Zone.

Mainstream concludes sale of SMart Wind to Dong Energy

The DyNaLab test

stand is one of the

world’s largest.

IWES tests Adwen’s 8 MW drive train

9

RES and GES signed a strategic

alliance agreement, bringing to-

gether complementary skills and

common values to provide asset

management and O&M services

to the offshore wind industry.

Through the alliance, clients

can access asset management and

O&M services for offshore wind

turbines and balance of plants in

cluding transmission assets. The

alliance will also be able to deliver

and/or manage blade inspections

and maintenance campaigns, major

repairs and retrofits, subsea sur

veys, condition monitoring and re

liability and control room services.

Jim Sandon, COO of RES Off

shore, says: “With more than 3,000

staff maintaining over 12 GW of

assets, GES is providing reliable

onsite delivery at volume. Our off

shore and engineering expertise un

locks the market for GES to deploy

their considerable experience.”

Thorsten Kramer, CEO at GES

adds: “RES is turning offshore wind

into onshore delivery for GES. Their

asset and overall management ca

pabilities, together with their HSE

and technical support, combined

with our delivery record, is a formi

dable alliance with which to expand

into the offshore O&M market.”

On 14 September, OSB held its

official opening ceremony at the

facilities in Teesside, North East

England. Production of 16 transi-

tion pieces for the Dong Energy

Burbo Bank Extension project is

already up and running.

As OSB (Offshore Structures

Britain) is a joint venture between

EEW SPC and Bladt Industries, the

CEOs of both companies took part in

the opening of the site. “The first can

for one of the transition pieces OSB

is fabricating for the Burbo Bank

Extension was finished in August –

weeks ahead of schedule. OSB is a

key part of our European manufac

turing base and with the establish

ment of the site, we intend to further

strengthen our presence in the UK

market,” says Jan Kjaersgaard, CEO

of Bladt Industries.

RES and GES sign strategic agreement

OSB officially open

Phot

o: O

SB

The production is al-

ready running at the

OSB site in Teesside.

newsimprint Publishing company:BVA Bielefelder Verlag GmbH & Co. KG Richard KaselowskyNiederwall 5333602 BielefeldGermany

Publisher: Prof. Dr. Bernhard von Schubert

Editors:Dr. Volker Buddensiek (responsible)

Katharina Garus, Phone: +49/2 21/25 87 309 [email protected]

Freelance authors:Jörn Iken, Detlef Koenemann, Torsten Thomas

Advertising:Martin Haase, Phone: +49/5 21/59 55 [email protected]

Christine Michalsky, Phone: +49/5 21/59 55 [email protected]

Katharina Vötter, Phone: +49/5 21/59 55 [email protected]

Customer Service:Phone: +49/221/25 87 [email protected]

Layout: Bernd Schulte zur Wissen, Virginie BecluDSV Deutscher Sportverlag GmbH, Cologne, Germany

Print: Dierichs Druck + Media GmbH & Co. KG, Frankfurter Str. 16834121 KasselGermany

Translation:Raymond Culp, Timothy Hanes, Übersetzungsbüro Hartmann, Jeremy Heighway, Thomas Schickling, Mark Wigfall

Website: www.offshorewindindustry.com

OFFSHORE WIND INDuSTRy is an independent journal. Material in this publication may not be reproduced, reprinted or stored in any form without the publisher’s written permission.








news

Energinet.dk and 50Hertz plan to establish a 400 MW

offshore interconnection between the Danish and

the German national power grids. The European

Commission has now granted the revised technical

layout for this world’s first offshore interconnection

that is using the national grid connections to offshore

wind farms.

The “Kriegers Flak – Combined Grid Solution” sees

a new interconnection between the Danish region of

Zealand and German MecklenburgWestern Pomerania.

It will have a capacity of 400 MW. Operation is planned

to start by the end of 2018.

Danish-German interconnector gets push forward

Overview over Kriegers Flak –

Combined Grid Solution

Germany already has two offshore wind farms in

the area, Baltic 1 (48 MW) and Baltic 2 (288 MW),

while Denmark is currently preparing to erect the off

shore wind farm Kriegers Flak (600 MW). Kriegers Flak

and Baltic 2 are located less than 30 km away from each

other and will be connected by two submarine cables to

establish the interconnector.

As eastern Denmark and Germany are two differ

ent synchronous areas, a frequency transformation is

necessary. This will be done by two voltage source con

verters (VSC) that convert the alternating current (AC)

from the Nordic synchronous area into direct current

(DC) and directly back to AC, now adapted to the Euro

pean synchronous area. The converters will be installed

in Bentwisch near Rostock, Germany. Placing the con

verters onshore is more costefficient and allows easier

maintenance compared to running the converters on

a separate offshore platform as it was foreseen in the

original concept.

“The new interconnection will allow producers and

consumers to buy and sell more power across the bor

ders. This adds more value to renewable energy and

the green transition”, says Peder Østermark Andreasen,

President and Chief Executive Officer of Energinet.dk.

Boris Schucht, Chief Executive Officer of 50Hertz,

says: “The approval by the European Commission

shows that cooperation between the European trans

mission system operators is the right answer to the

challenges of the energy transition. With the Combined

Grid Solution we create the nucleus for an offshore grid

in the Baltic Sea, a milestone in the development of

European grids.”

Kriegers Flak - Combined Grid Solution CGS Project Site (Interconnector) Converter Site (AC/DC) 400 kV Transformer Station (AC) 220 kV Transformer Station (AC) 150 kV Transformer Station (AC) 220 kV Cable 150 kV Cable

Denmark

Germany

Gra

phic

: 50H

ertz

/ Ene

rgie

net.d

k

11

ZephIR Lidar announced the release of a fully-

marinised wind lidar – the ZephIR 300M. The new

device is based on the company’s established re-

mote wind measurement device, ZephIR 300, and is

intended for the offshore wind and meteorological

industries.

The ZephIR 300M provides wind measurements

between 10 m and 200 m and is ideal for offshore site

resource assessment, power curve measurements and

bankable Annual Energy Prediction (AEP) campaigns.

It includes as standard:

Rolls-Royce has been selected to design and equip a

new Service Operation Vessel (SOV) for shipowner

Østensjø Rederi. The vessel will support wind farm

operations at Race Bank Offshore Wind Farm for

Dong Energy.

The order of the UT 540 WP is the first for a new

ship design from RollsRoyce developed specifically

to support operations in shallow waters at offshore

wind farms. The vessel will serve as the base for wind

turbine technicians while they perform maintenance

work on Race Bank Offshore Wind Farm, off the coast

of Lincolnshire, UK.

Helge Gjerde, RollsRoyce, President Commercial

Marine, said, “We are delighted that Østensjø Rederi

and Dong Energy have chosen the new RollsRoyce UT

540 WP design against intense competition. As more

wind farms are built further from shore and in more

demanding conditions we see opportunities to use

our extensive offshore experience to diversify into an

exciting new market.”

ZephIR launches new offshore lidar

Rolls-Royce design for new SOV

ZephIR 300M is the

marinised version

of the well-known

ZephIR 300.

Rolls-Royce has designed the UT 540 WP

as new SOV.

> A three year warranty – the most extensive available

for a remote sensing device for offshore use;

> Optimised industrial design including high UV

stability housing, highest grade of marine connectors,

marine MET station for improved yaw detection;

> Upgraded cooling and air movement system offering

IP68 protection;

ZephIR Lidar can now also offer customers a non

exclusive license to the patentapproved application

of the technology to operate on an offshore floating

platform.

Gra

phic

: Rol

ls-R

oyce

Gra

phic

: Zep

hIR

IntervIew | Dong EnErgy


OWI: The sale of shares to Goldman Sachs in 2013 was probably inevitable due to the financial difficulties that the company was experiencing at that time. However, Dong is now doing very well. Why do you want to go public now?Samuel Leupold: In 2013, the

goal was to strengthen the balance

sheet by increasing equity. The

energy turnaround meant that

things had to be written off that

still had value in the old energy

world, but no longer did in the

new one. There is a completely

dif ferent rationale behind an

IPO. It has nothing to do with

strengthening the balance sheet.

Shareholders simply sell their

shares to other people. Money

Dong energy intends to go public in one and a half years, at the latest. It will be the largest IPO in Danish history. OwI spoke with Samuel Leupold, CeO at Dong energy wind Power, about the company’s planned IPO as well as the future orientation of the company.

“Money does not flow into the company’s coffers”

does not flow into the company’s

coffers during this process.

OWI: In that case, what are Dong’s objectives with the IPO?Leupold: Actually, you would have

to talk to the owners about that. I

suppose Goldman or the Danish

government thinks the company

will have better growth opportuni-

ties if its shares are traded on the

stock market. This will make it

easier to raise additional capital in

the future. Another motive could

be that the government thinks that

it is not the best owner for an en-

ergy company that is increasingly

operating not just in Denmark,

but worldwide. This is a possible

motivation, particularly in a

political context. But I do not want

to speculate on what the deciding

factor was in this specific case.

OWI: Apropos “political con-text”: the deal with Goldman Sachs caused an uproar at home. Many Danes clearly want Dong to remain a state-owned enterprise. How will you deal with this?Leupold: For me as a non-Dane, it

is difficult to understand what ulti-

mately happened there. On the one

hand, I think people in Denmark

like the company’s Danish identity.

An IPO, however, does not neces-

sarily mean that the company will

become less Danish. Future share-

holders might include Danish pen-

sion funds, for example. Or Danish Phot

o: D

ong

Ener

gy

13

is CeO at Dong energy wind Power. He has been a

member of Dong energy’s group management since

2013 and is responsible for the global wind power

business of the company.

Samuel Leupold

individuals might acquire shares.

An IPO does not mean that Dong

has to fall into foreign hands.

OWI: But it does seem like people identify strongly with Dong as a state-owned company.Leupold: Yes, that may be so. The

company itself is one thing; the

other is the issue of energy, where

many sensibilities are affected and

people are very emotional. Perhaps

people are afraid that the company

will become less environmentally

friendly due to the privatisation.

But that’s certainly not the case.

One of the reasons why Goldman

Sachs decided to become involved

with the company is precisely

because they appreciate the green

growth potential.

OWI: Up till now, offshore wind has been Dong’s tech-nology of choice in this field. Will this remain the case, or will the IPO and the new op-portunities change things?Leupold: Offshore wind and

biomass! We are converting

former coal-fired power plants

into biomass or at least partially

biomass-fired power plants. This is

one part. The other part is indeed

the expansion of offshore wind.

This strategy is certainly still valid.

We see our core competence in

these two areas, and we intend to

strengthen them.

OWI: You mentioned previ-ously that the IPO is also a step towards being more of a global player and less of a state-owned company. Which global markets for offshore wind energy are of interest in the future for Dong?Leupold: Generally speaking, even

a majority co-ownership by the

Danish State is not the opposite of

a global player. The Danish State

has proved in the past that it allows

the company the flexibility to do

business according to private sector

criteria. ‘State-owned company’ and

‘global player’ may well go hand in

hand. But to answer the question

whether Dong will expand or not:

yes, it will. This is particularly

true in the offshore sector. If we

want to remain number one, then

we need to go where the market

is and where it is accessible. We

recently made very careful steps

into the United States market. We

now have local representatives in

Massachusetts. Whether or not we

will be able to carry out projects

there is still an open question. The

political discussion regarding the

future energy supply system in

Massachusetts is still ongoing.

OWI: And what is your assessment of the Asian market?Leupold: It is also interesting.

I spent some time in China two

years ago and was able to see first-

hand. Offshore energy is already

a reality there and will certainly

continue to grow. The technical

challenges are different than here,

and the motivation certainly is

also. I think in China the real ques-

tion is whether the market will be

accessible for non-Chinese players.

Taiwan is also already relatively

far advanced. A2Sea for example

was awarded a first contract to con-

struct offshore turbines there.

OWI: Does this mean we will soon be seeing a tried and tested Danish cooperation in Taiwan?Leupold: At least one of A2Sea’s

ships including the company’s own

crew is getting in on the action

and will be constructing two test

turbines. I cannot make any state-

ments on the rest right now. But

it is true that if we look at Taiwan

and ask ourselves where offshore

wind is feasible outside of Europe,

then Taiwan is definitely an inter-

esting country.

The interview was conducted by

Katharina Garus.


Phot

o: F

red.

Ols

en

Monopile or jacket? that’s not the only question when it comes to foundations. upside down buckets are making a comeback in foundation fixing. they have demonstrated their suitability on the drawing board as well as in the field.

needed. One tried and tested solution for this application

area already exists: Monopiles are technically and eco-

nomically unbeatable in water depths up to 30 m. This

depth, however, is just the lowest common denominator.

Some companies are using monopiles in water depths of

40 m, and the Danish project developer and wind farm

operator Dong Energy even uses them in waters up to

50 m deep.

Jackets manufactured at new factory“We use monopiles in water up to 30 m deep. Our jackets

cover water depths between 30 and 60 meters,” said Tim

Klatt, Head of Sales and Development at Bilfinger Marine

& Offshore Systems GmbH. The offshore division con-

sists of two companies and has installed approximately

t he offshore wind industry

has been demanding more

standardisation for years

now. This demand, how-

ever, does not necessarily

include all components of an offshore wind turbine. It is

becoming increasingly clear that diversity is here to stay

in the area of foundations. Monopiles, jackets, tripods,

buckets, gravity foundations, and floating systems all

have their places in the range of potential solutions.

Even so, all of these concepts need to fulfil some

of the same requirements: First of all, cost reduction is

still the number one consideration. There is still plenty

of untapped potential in this area. Secondly, if offshore

wind is not to be confined to regions where the water is

shallow, then foundation solutions for deeper waters are

Monopile or jacket? that’s not the only question when it comes

Upside down

spotlight Foundations | Bucket

15

spotlight

years ago, but bucket foundations are indeed making

a comeback.

Bucket foundations are cylindrical steel structures

that are open on the bottom and are lowered onto the

seabed. Strong suction pumps then create a vacuum in-

side of the bucket and the steel structure is sucked into

the soft seabed. When this process is complete, the fric-

tion between the seabed and bucket wall provides the

necessary stability for the foundation.

The method is actually not new in the offshore in-

dustry. What Enercon was attempting at Hooksiel in

Northwest Germany was only unique because of the

scale of the project. The bucket foundation had been de-

signed for the flagship turbine at that time, the E-112,

which weighed approximately 500 tonnes.

Enercon aborted the installation because the bucket

was deformed during the installation process. That more

or less put an end to discussions about the bucket con-

cept. Nevertheless, it still has one significant advantage:

It is a low-noise process that does not injure marine

mammals. Sound levels during pile driving significantly

exceed safe thresholds and make costly noise protection

measures necessary.

the return of the bucketThat is the main reason why scientists as well as the

industry decided to give buckets a second chance. The

500 foundations. The second company in that division,

Bilfinger Mars Offshore sp. z o.o., began manufacturing

monopiles, jackets and transition pieces at its new fac-

tory in Szczecin, Poland, this year. Bilfinger has invested

€ 120 million in the production site.

A compelling business case is obviously necessary

for decision-makers to approve investments of this mag-

nitude. Bilfinger is expecting a maximum cumulative

offshore wind capacity of 23 GW in the UK, Germany,

Denmark and The Netherlands. “This very conservative

estimate was the basis for our decision to build a new

factory for steel foundations,” Klatt said. The untapped

potential is clearly large enough.

Bilfinger’s strategy focuses on deep-water sites, in-

cluding large areas of the North Sea with water depths

of less than a hundred metres. Klatt estimates that ap-

proximately two-thirds of all future installations will

use monopiles and the rest will use various types of

jackets. The monopile concept is currently being opti-

mised and will soon be included in a standard or a set

of regulations by certifiers.

unsuccessful premiereMonopiles and jackets are pretty much unchallenged as

foundation structures, but there is still plenty of discus-

sion going on about how best to anchor them. Nobody

would have expected it after the Enercon failure ten

Upside down

two measurement masts at the British offshore wind farm

dogger Bank have been installed on mono buckets since 2013.

Secure tomorrow’s energy supply on our foundations.

LOOK TO THE FUTURE

EEW Special Pipe Constructions GmbH, [email protected], www.eew-group.com


http://www.eew-group.com



German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and

Energy funded a research project titled ‘WindBucket’

– Suction Bucket Foundations as an Innovative, In-

stallation Noise-Reducing Concept for Offshore Wind

Turbines, which recently published its results.

Engineers at Overdick and Senvion as well as scien-

tists from the Leibniz University in Hanover and Fraun-

hofer IWES studied the interaction between the seabed

and the structure in a seabed / bucket simulation using

non-linear spring elements. “The effects of a simulated

storm on the individual suction buckets were deter-

mined in accordance with the guidelines of the Federal

Maritime and Hydrographic Agency of Germany (BSH),”

the final report states. “The calculations were used to

design the geometry of the suction pipes of the jacket

structure as well as for planning and defining the ex-

perimental study programme with a focus on the axial

load-bearing behaviour of a single bucket under typical

offshore load conditions.”

rosy future?About the findings: The simulated storm event did

not adversely affect the axial load-bearing behaviour;

instead, it actually strengthened the post-cyclic pull-

out behaviour. An important finding with immediate

practical relevance that was recorded by the researchers

was the geological application risk for bucket founda-

tions in the German North Sea areas. The result was a

geotechnical map with a “moderate or predominantly

low” application risk for bucket foundations. However,

there are also areas of the North Sea that have an in-

creased application risk. This is the case in areas with

very soft layers or an increased occurrence of boulders

from the Ice Age. The conclusion of the research project:

Lessons learnedTim Klatt, Head of Sales and Development at

Bilfinger Marine & Offshore Systems, takes stock

after twelve years of offshore wind energy:

Keep it extremely robust and simple: > Plan and document all equipment, technology

and processes as robustly and transparently as

possible.

> Always have a backup plan.

one innovation per project:> Never introduce more than one innovation per

project. For example: a new installation vessel, a

new noise reduction system, new hoists etc.

interface planning is the key success factor:> Plan and agree on all internal and external

interfaces to customers and subcontractors

regarding performance and processes in detail.

Fair risk split is most beneficial for all involved: > Clarify and agree on the risk of environmental

conditions such as the seabed, wind, weather

and waves in advance and in detail.

> Exclude extreme weather events and agree on

fair risk distribution in the unlikely event of their

occurrence. This typically reduces the CAPEX.

hsE+Q is essential:> Define all measures and processes for work

safety and quality assurance in detail because

problems may incur high financial losses.

Source: School Offshore Wind 2014

in addition to 77 monopiles, dong Energy has also installed a

suction bucket at the Borkum Riffgrund 1 wind farm.

Phot

o: D

ong

ener

gy



“Generally speaking, large areas seem to be suitable for

using suction bucket foundation structures, in particular

the planned wind parks in areas in the North Sea.”

Dong Energy is turning theory into practice and is

installing the 78 turbines at the Borkum Riffgrund 1

wind farm using suction bucket jackets instead of mono-

piles. The Dutch company SPT Offshore carried out the

installation and anchored the jacket structure in the sea-

bed using three buckets. According to SPT, it was the

first successful installation.

The foundation now supports a 3.6-MW Siemens

turbine. SPT transported the entire foundation, which

consists of the jacket, transition piece and the three

buckets and weighs a total of 850 tonnes, in one piece

to the site northwest of Borkum. The buckets are eight

metres high and eight metres in diameter. In addition

to the silent installation procedure, SPT and Dong em-

phasise a further technical installation advantage: “One

of the benefits of suction technology is that it is possi-

ble to be much more accurate with positioning and the

suction bucket was installed with a verticality of 0.04

degrees; much less than the minimum requirement for

wind turbines of 0.25 degrees.”

Universal Foundation is interested in proving that

buckets can be interesting for monopile foundations.

„Our Mono Bucket is specifically designed for offshore

wind turbine applications, combining the key benefits

of a gravity base foundation, a monopile and a suction

bucket, and building on a legacy of more than 2,000

suction technology-based foundations from the oil and

gas industry,” said Kristian Jacobsen, head of business

development at Universal Foundation.

Universal Foundation’s concept is designed for wa-

ter depths of 55 m and turbines with up to 8 MW. Ac-

cording to the company, the Mono Bucket has proven

its ability, having been successfully installed in a wide

variety of site conditions, including sand, silt, clay and

layered strata. As part of an extensive trial installation

in the Dogger Bank, Dudgeon and Hornsea zones, a to-

tal of 29 mono buckets were installed within 24 hours.

A scaled-down version of the Mono Bucket measuring

8 m in diameter with a 6 m skirt, as well as a reference

structure of 4 m diameter with a 6 m skirt, was used in

this trial installation. “Now that the Mono Bucket has

completed the testing phase, it is ready for commercial

projects and we soon hope to announce a commercial

demonstration project with a Mono Bucket supporting

a multi MW turbine”, says Jacobsen.

It seems like the last word has not yet been spoken

regarding the future of bucket foundations. Universal

Foundation is not the only company convinced that ‘up-

side down buckets’ will have a bright future; SPT and

Dong are optimistic as well.

Jörn Iken, Katharina Garus

Problem solvedOne problem that has vexed the offshore indus-

try for a long time has now apparently become

less pressing. MasterFlow 9500 from Master

Builders Solutions by BASF is the first product of

its kind to receive a DNV GL (Det Norske Veritas

Germanischer Lloyd) certificate for Offshore

Concrete Structures. The Type Approval Certificate

issued by the internationally acknowledged test

and certification body, which specialises in oil, gas

and maritime services as well as in energy and

sustainability, officially confirms the quality of the

offshore performance grout.

Bilfinger estimates that two thirds of all turbines will be

installed on monopiles in the future.

Phot

o: B

ilfin

ger

Mar

ine

& O

ffsh

ore

Syst

ems

Grouting:

19

advertoria

l

J acket foundations are

currently going through

a difficult period on the

market. The monopile has become the

standard and thanks to XXL versions

can now be used in water depths that

would have been impossible just a

few years ago. But according to Georg

Michels, who is responsible for off-

shore wind turbine foundations at

Salzgitter AG, this will come to an end

in the next future. “The monopile will

soon have reached its physical limits

taking in consideration the further

development of turbines”, he says –

and the current cost advantage of the

monopile over the jacket foundation

will no longer apply.

This will certainly be the case if

the concept of industrial jacket manu-

facturing gains a foothold which has

been further developed by the coop-

eration of Salzgitter and Bilfinger

Mars offshore. It will make them 30 %

cheaper than currently – and thereby

definitively competitive in the long

term.

The innovative aspects of the

Salzgitter concept include the use

of industrially manufactured stand-

ard pipes, from which the jackets are

mainly constructed. This provides

the greatest cost-saving potential

compared with the current individual

manufacture of customized pipes.

The second aspect is the prefabri-

cated X and K-joints, with which the

standard pipes are joined together to

form the jacket structure. Significant

cost savings combined with a high

quality standard can be achieved

through industrial series produc-

tion of joints using robot welding

equipment. The robot can complete a

K-joint in one day that would require

a week’s work if welded manually,

explains Michels.

What was just a concept on paper

a few years ago is now a reality. In the

factory that Bilfinger Mars Offshore

has built, there are already three robot

welding stations for nodes, which were

developed in cooperation with Salzgit-

ter AG. The line for jacket production

will be ready for use at the end of the

year. Then it will be possible to build

50 complete jackets per year and fur-

ther up to 80 that will be exclusively

marketed by Salzgitter Offshore Wind

in kit form, shipped and put together

on location.

The latter option could be particu-

larly interesting for the British market.

“Three or four projects from Round 3

have inquired about jacket founda-

tions”, reports Michels. The allocation

will take place next year and Salzgitter

is quite hopeful about the outcome as

the reaction to the concept has been

overwhelmingly positive.

In order for things to progress,

the designers must finally recognize

the potential and move away from

their previous standard. Pressure from

their clients could help, for whom

the cost-saving potential should be a

convincing argument.

Salzgitter promises a 30 % cost advantage through the use of prefabricated components in

the construction of jacket foundations, using industrially manufactured pipes and robot-

welded connecting pieces. Everything is ready for production in Szczecin, Poland.

Gra

phic

& P

hoto

: Sal

zgitt

er

Salzgitter AG

Salzgitter Mannesmann Renewable

Eisenhüttenstr. 99

38239 Salzgitter

Germany

[email protected]

Nordic Yards in WismarJacket beats monopile



Six sand-filled ballast

tanks will anchor the

Texbase to the seabed.

Simple but clever

G ravity founda-

tions are cur-

rently outsiders

in the foundation business. They are

too heavy and too bulky, and there-

fore too expensive to install. These

are precisely the weaknesses that

Texbase tackles. To put it simply,

Texbase replaces the heavy concrete

bases of current gravity foundations

with flexible textile silos which only

need to be filled with sand at the off-

shore location.

The Maritime Offshore Group

(MOG), the steel construction com-

pany Conferdo, the Mittelhessen

The principle of gravity foundations may be simple but the concept is having a hard time gaining a foothold in the market. The Texbase aims to change this. Its big advantage is that the sand silos that provide a secure anchorage can be filled on site.

University of Applied Sciences and

the Franzius-Institute of Leibniz

University in Hanover began collab-

orating on the development of this

new type of offshore foundation sys-

tem in July. The project participants

plan to conduct research and devel-

opment for two years and achieve a

detailed concept by mid-2017.

The basic characteristics are

already clear: the Hexabase foun-

dation developed by MOG and

ThyssenKrupp Mannex, a jacket

with a six-sided cross-section de-

signed for serial production, will

be equipped with a new base. At Gra

phic

s (2

): M

OG

the bottom will be six flat elements

with a strong textile weave stretched

across them. Six ballast tanks made

of geotextiles and filled with sand

will hold the foundation securely on

the seabed.

relying on gravity The inventors aim to make use of a

property of sand to fill the sandbags:

while sand is extremely stiff and has

a specific weight close to that of con-

crete when it is compacted, a sand/

water mixture is so fluid that it can

be pumped. This means that the Tex-

base can be transported to the instal-

21

SpoTlighT FoundaTionS | InnOvaTIOn

Global Renewables Shipbrokers - OWI Magazin - Anzeige 172 x 30 mm Version2.pdf 1 07.05.2015 11:07:17

lation site empty and lowered into

the water before the ballast tanks are

filled with a sand/water mix.

Because the geotextiles to be

used for the ballast tanks are per-

meable to water, it will be squeezed

out of the silos by the foundation’s

own weight and the remaining sand

will be compressed. Its own weight

will also cause the Texbase to slowly

sink into the ground. It will go quite

quickly through the first 50 cm or so

of sludge that forms the upper layer,

but because the seabed under it is

also compressed by the weight of

the foundation, Christof Schramm,

Research and Development at MOG,

calculates that the Texbase will sink

by a further 50 cm. “Foundations

usually stand in the water for a

while before the turbine is installed

anyway. By then the base should

have settled”, he says.

Texbase’s developers see its

greatest advantage in the quick and

cheap installation. “A normal crane

vessel suffices for the installation,

while concrete gravity foundations

generally require four tugs”, says

Schramm. But the Texbase will not

just have to measure up to other

gravity foundations. In order to suc-

ceed on the market, the developers

will have to offer a true alternative

to the monopile. Schramm sees po-

tential in that area too. “The larger

monopiles become, the more diffi-

cult it is to install them”, he says.

Furthermore, using the Texbase not

only saves time. Because it does

not require any preparation of the

seabed, it is also more environmen-

tally friendly. It can be used in deep

waters and “is very well adapted to

most offshore sites in Europe”, as

Schramm emphasizes. The only ter-

rain on which it makes little sense

is solid rock.

To ensure that the wind tur-

bines have a stable base, several

Texbase – the path to the prototype> Base construction and struc-

tural calculations: Mittelhessen

University of Applied Sciences

> Detailed development of the

ballast tanks and ground

supports: Maritime Offshore

Group

> Analysis of geotechnical

effects: Franzius-Institute of

Leibniz University, Hanover

> Planning of production and

after-sales maintenance:

Conferdo

> Manufacturing and sales:

ThyssenKrupp Mannex

> Coating: BASF Coatings

thousand tonnes of sand will be

needed. Schramm estimates that

4,000 to 5,000 t will be required for

a 6 MW system. Exactly how much

is actually needed will be calculated

over the two years of the research

project. It is clear that a foundation

for a 6 MW turbine will be the ba-

sis for the calculations. However, in

the future, Texbase will also support

turbines as large as 8 MW in depths

of up to 50 m. Katharina Garus

The V164-8.0 prototype has now

withstood 2,500 examinations and

managed tough endurance tests.

The offshore market is currently a heady mix of top marks for performance and rotor diameters on the one hand and mergers on the other. The purpose of large rotor blades, more generator output and mergers is the same: slashing costs.

A reva Wind and

Gamesa merg-

ing to become

Adwen, and Vestas and Mitsubishi

joining forces have triggered an

initial process of consolidation.

Companies are aiming to reduce

competition by garnering more mar-

ket power and capital and improving

their ability to weather periods of low

order intake. In parallel, turbine sup-

pliers are outdoing each other with

considerable boosts in power output.

The purpose of the new giants in the

manufacturers‘ product ranges is to

cut investors’ costs by achieving

an offshore wind farm’s maximum

capacity with fewer machines. This

would mean less outlay for the Phot

o: M

Hi V

esta

s

BIG Thinking

Science & TecHnoLogy | TurbinesScience & TecHnoLogy |


23

Like this AD 5-132, Adwen’s rotor, gear drive and generator also form

a unit. However, unlike the 5 MW variant, key components for the

8 MW model can be replaced independently of one another.

science & technology

components required, installation

and subsequent operation.

With an 8 MW capacity and a

rotor of 164 m in diameter, MHI

Vestas Offshore Wind has gained the

first breakthrough towards reach-

ing 10 MW. For the V164, Vestas is

sticking with its gear drive and rely-

ing on a medium-speed drivetrain.

This is a definite technological trend

regarding offshore. In this case two-

or three-stage speed converters and

a permanently excited generator are

alternative options to direct drive.

The idea behind these concepts is to

reduce losses inside the gear drive

by better efficiency in the partial

load range and to minimize wear

through moderate speeds. In the

case of direct drives, the philoso-

phy is that if there aren’t so many

components inside not as much can

go wrong. For this technology, the

cost benefits appear to be from the

lack of a gear drive and the fact that

fewer components reduce the need

for maintenance. The biggest boost

in capacity is currently from aero-

dynamically optimized rotor blades

which are getting longer and longer.

However, cost reductions of up to

40 % that the industry is hoping for

can only be achieved by industrial

processes and this is where volume

matters most.

Vestas: grown to more than 1.7 GW“Large-scale turbines affect cost

greatly, since installing turbines

and foundations is expensive. The

new turbine was launched a little

late on the market, but did perform

well on the other hand”, comments

Anders Bach Andersen, the V164-

platform’s Product Manager at

MHI Vestas. However, the launch

was obviously not too late. Dong

Energy has already ordered just

under 700 MW and further inves-

tors regard it as their turbine of first

choice. As a result, the pipeline has

grown to more than 1.7 GW since

the prototype’s erection early in

2014. The V164-8.0 prototype has

now withstood 2,500 tests and man-

aged tough endurance tests. “More

test runs will be required before

production gets underway and

we intend to enhance availability

further,” explains Bach Andersen.

In all, at a length of 20 and

a width of 8 m, the 390 t nacelle

closely resembles a comfortable

detached house. The nacelle’s insides

consist of the traditional structure

with a massive rotor shaft. In or-

der to ensure that only pure torque

reaches the gear drive and the gen-

erator, a flexible coupling is inserted

between the main shaft and gear

drive. The compact three-stage plan-

etary gear drive was designed by ZF

Wind Power. Moreover, the turbine

boasts other features. “For example,

we can exchange the main bearing

without having to take off the rotor,”

explains Bach Andersen.

Adwen builds on Areva’s M5000Adwen wants to follow suit with

a prototype in the third quarter of

2016. The AD 8-810 will have a Phot

o: A

dwen


Science & TecHnoLogy | Turbines

rotor diameter of 180 m and gener-

ate 8 MW of rated capacity as well.

Despite the merger between Areva

Wind and Gamesa, the new turbine

will build on Areva’s tried and tested

M5000. In this concept, the drive

train and the coupling to the genera-

tor have been dropped, because the

rotor was directly integrated into a

large roller bearing. This helps rotor,

gear drive and generator to form a

single unit. Its centrepiece is a two-

stage planetary gear drive featuring

a gear ratio of 1:10. The permanent

magnet generator already achieves

its rated capacity at just under 150

revolutions. “Renk AG and Moventas

will build the gear drives and ABB

the generator of the new turbine,”

says Head of Sales Paulo Pereira.

Adwen has made minor changes to

the concept. Previously, the entire

nacelle had to be replaced if it was

damaged. “Now the structure is di-

vided up so that the main compo-

nents can be replaced independently

of one another,” explains Pereira.

Overall, head mass including ro-

tor is apparently 550 t, whereas it

was just 356 t before. The turbine is

being put through its paces on a new

test rig at the Fraunhofer Institute

for Wind Energy and Energy System

Technology (IWES) in Bremerhaven

where the new turbines are also to

be built in future. The production

of 80 turbines with 5 MW for the

Wikinger project in the Baltic will

start in November. Orders have also

already come in for the new 8 MW

generation. “The AD 8-180 is sched-

uled for three projects comprising

500 MW each in France”.

Senvion is staying faithful to

traditional turbine technology. The

Hamburg-based company continues

to depend on a distributed drive

train with components arranged

in sequence in order to be able to

respond flexibly to customer’s com-

ponent wishes. The three-stage gear

drive of the updated 6.2 MW with

a rotor diameter of 152 m rotates

at a slightly faster pace at a ratio

of 1:116 and drives a doubly-fed

asynchronous generator. The latter

provides space-saving benefits in

the nacelle, because synchronous

generators with full-power convert-

ers are bigger in size. The generator

also requires no rare earths. Unlike

its forerunner at 6.15 MW and a

rotor diameter of 126 m, Senvion

is choosing longer blades and an

updated drive train to combat the

competition. “Compared to its fore-

runner, energy yield at wind speeds

of 9.5 m/sec. is 20 % higher,” claims

group spokeswoman Verena Puth.

The prototype of Siemens’ SWT-7.0-154 in Østerild, Denmark, was installed only a few months after the product launch

at the eWeA offshore trade show in copenhagen.

Phot

o: s

iem

ens

To date, Senvion has installed 101

turbines offshore and some 72 in

the order books. The manufacturer

is hoping for growth through its new

owner Centerbridge. The private U.S.

investor took over from Suzlon in

2015. After all, the deal has raised

the credit line with the banks from

€ 100 to 950 million.

siemens is working on 10 MWSiemens continues to have more

than one string to its bow. On the

one hand, the 3.6 and 4 MW gear

drive turbines are still much in de-

mand. On the other, the technology

group’s wind division relies on di-

rect drive at 6 MW capacity and its

lead in development and production.

Siemens already has 83 turbines of

this type with a rotor diameter of

154 m on the grid and some 322

further WTGs in the order books.

This will enable efficient industrial

production processes to be set up in

Brande in Denmark. This type dem-

onstrates the fast pace of develop-

ment today. Not all that long ago in

October 2013, the SWT 6.0 was still

the turbine with the largest rotor

diameter worldwide. There will be

no modifications to the blades for

the time being. Instead, Siemens is

ramping up an additional megawatt

in capacity and plans to test the up-

grade on 7 MW prototypes by 2018.

“We focused on higher torque by

using stronger magnets to boost ca-

pacity, which means a higher yield

offshore of 10 %. The biggest advan-

tage is that the production supply

chain remains unchanged, because

there are only few modifications,”

says Michael Hannibal, CEO of the

offshore wind division. Its weight

of 360 t places the direct drive wind

turbine well within the range of its

competitors. Meanwhile Siemens

is working on a new generation of

10 MW capacity.

Alstom is also opting for the di-

rect drive. “Our analyses show that

in comparison with gear drives,

direct drive results in significantly

fewer malfunctions. We therefore

decided to choose offshore for

direct drive,” says Marcus Rieck,

Alstom Renewables’ Country Sales

Director in Germany. “This resulted

in the Haliade 150 at 6 MW capacity

whose first prototype was installed

in Le Carnet in the Pays de la Loire

region in France in 2012. We have

238 turbines for French and 124

turbines for German projects in

the pipeline, as well as 5 turbines

for the first floating offshore wind

farm in the US.” After selling its

energy division to GE, as yet noth-

ing has officially been heard about

any major leaps in development. In-

stead, there were problems with the

generator on one of the two proto-

types in the form of a loose magnet

and workshops were held with the

manufacturers. “Production pro-

cesses were examined by several

partners and the packages equipped

with magnets have a new design,”

explains Rieck. The new factory in

France can produce 100 turbines

a year.

Torsten Thomas

SAFETY

FOUNDATION

SUBSTATIONS

REPOWERING

ONSHORE CONSULTING

NACELLE

OIL SERVICE

TOWER

CONTROL

ROTOR BLADE

OFFSHORE SERVICES

OFFSHORE CONSULTING

MA

INT

EN

AN

CE

I

NS

PE

CT

ION

R

EPA

IR

OP

TIM

IZA

TIO

N

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deutsche-windtechnik.com

logistics & operations | InstallatIon vessels


Phot

o: s

wire

Blu

e o

cean

time is money the construction of offshore wind farms has become a routine activity, but it still takes too long. In order to save time it is necessary to define technically feasible limits for the individual stages of the process.

27

pacific orca from above. so that the main crane

takes up as little space as possible on the deck, it

is moved above one of the six legs.

time is money

logistics & operations

ith the wind tur-

bine installa tion

vessel (WTIV) a

com pletely new class

of ship has emerged

in recent years, consisting of a flat rectangular hull

with an extensive load area and a large crane. Pro-

pulsion and exact positioning are achieved using

electrically driven rudder-propellers (thrusters) or

Voith-Schneider propellers. The requirement for

fuel and electricity is high because the bulky hull

has to be moved through the water at a speed of 10

to 12 knots until the construc-

tion site has been reached. Once

it is there, the working position must

be actively maintained until the jack-up legs

of the ship stand firmly on the seabed. Multiple

diesel generators in the hull supply the four to

eight drive motors with suffi cient electricity. Four

or six jack-up legs provide a secure stance on the

seabed – even in high waves. Multi-storey super-

structures on the bow, usually topped by a heli-

copter landing platform, provide accommodation

for the personnel .


Before this type of ship evolved, the offshore wind

industry first gathered experience with crane ships

borrowed from the oil and gas industry, where they are

still in use. Ten years ago there were only a few ships

that were suitable for the installation of wind turbines at

sea. Two of these veterans are still active: the Sea Power,

which was constructed for A2Sea by converting a small

freighter, and the MPI Resolution, which is regarded as

the very first WTIV because she was constructed for this

purpose right from the start.

the boom began in 2009After the MPI Resolution went into service in 2003,

it took a long time before further ships followed.

More and more wind farms were constructed but the

volume of the contracts was so small that no inves-

tor dared to commission such an expensive and ex-

tremely specialized ship. The wind farm planners had

to improvise by chartering ships that were temporarily

not needed by the oil and gas industry and were there-

fore affordable.

From 2009 onward the situation became easier.

Numerous ships were commissioned and in the six

years from 2009 to 2014 a total of 25 WTIVs went into

service – with a high point in the year 2012 when seven

ships were available for operations for the first time.

The tide of shipbuilding has now ebbed and the first

modifications have started. It has become clear that the

requirements are increasing. Fred. Olsen, for example,

will soon bring the sister ships Bold Tern and Brave Tern

into the wharf. “The jack-up legs will be lengthened by

14 m and the boom of the crane by 10 m”, explains Felix

Fliege, the head of the German subsidiary, “then we will

be equipped for round three in the UK.”

Although the fleet of WTIVs is already quite big,

shortages cannot be avoided. When this happens, heavy-

lift crane vessels (HLCVs) are put to use. Some of them

were originally built for a completely different purpose

and have a specification that is somewhat different.

Nevertheless, they are well suited to the construction

of offshore wind turbines. An outstanding example is the

Svanen, which was originally designed for the construc-

tion of a large bridge and can lift a load of 8,700 t. She

is clearly over-dimensioned for the erection of wind tur-

bines but is cheap to charter because she hardly gets any

other work. The Thialf, with its 12,000 t crane capacity

is one of the world’s largest crane ships and is used only

seldom in offshore wind farms due to the high costs.

two rotor stars for 6 MW wind turbines from siemens being transported by the sea installer to the wind

farm gunfleet sands. the transport of these gigantic rotors limits the capacity but has advantages for the

installation of direct-drive turbines.

Phot

o: D

ong

ener

gy

29


retreat of the outsiders The installation of offshore wind farms is a job for spe-

cialists. In the euphoria of the pioneer phase, when the

expansion targets were even higher than today, several

outsiders convinced themselves to build ships in order

to participate in the supposedly lucrative logistics busi-

ness. The market activity has calmed down a lot since

then and of the 30 WTIVs listed in the table, 25 are

owned by eight shipping companies. The outsiders have

largely thrown in the towel.

The German building company Hochtief, which

founded the joint-venture HGO Infrasea Solutions

t ogether with GeoSea, has completely withdrawn from

the offshore business. A year ago Hochtief sold its share

in the Innovation to GeoSea and in September 2015 the

Vidar was sold to the Jan De Nul Group.

RWE Innogy, a subsidiary of the German energy

conglomerate RWE, which had two construction ships

built around four years ago in order to put up its own

wind farms, has sold the Victoria Mathias to MPI

Offshore (the ship is now called MPI Enterprise) and has

chartered the Friedrich Ernestine to A2Sea. The latter

has been renamed M/V Torben and is now in Taiwan

erecting the country’s first two offshore wind turbines.

RWE Innogy continues to be active as a project devel-

oper but will leave the installation to the specialists

in future.

Dynamic positioningDynamic positioning (DP) is divided into classes

according to ability. It is decisive for the operation

of the WTIV and concerns the exactness of the

positioning of the ship and the redundancy of the

electricity and drive aggregates.

Class DP1 includes all ships which are no

longer able to maintain an exact position when a

drive system fails but are still able to manoeuvre.

In an emergency they are thus able to return to

port under their own power.

Ships with DP2 are equipped with a double set

of drive generators and position calculators. They

are therefore still able to work when one system

fails. However, the systems have a joint electricity

supply and need to be adjusted when one system

breaks down.

A higher level of redundancy is achieved in

class DP3 through the doubling of the electricity

supply. Separate machine rooms and emergency

power supplies reduce the risk of a system break-

down to a minimum.

Vessels without DP include older jack-up

barges without their own drive systems and ships

with conventional hulls. These vessels are held in

position using tugs with DP abilities, or otherwise

need to be anchored.


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Owner Name Commis-sioned (year)

Deck area (m2)

Service speed (kn)

Max. wa-ter depth

(m)

Lifting capacity (t @ m)

DP class

A2Seasea installer 2012 3,350 12 45 800 t @ 24 m Dp2

sea challenger 2014 3,350 12 45 800 t @ 24 m Dp2

sea power 2002 1,020 7.8 24 230 t @ 15 (22) m without

M/V torben 1 2011 2,850 7.5 45 1,000 t @ 25 m Dp2

DBB Jack-Up J/U Wind 1996 430 6 30 80 t @ 13 m Dp1

J/U Wind pioneer 2010 2 530 5 35 150 t without

J/U Wind server 2014 1,000 9 45 400 t @ 20 m Dp2

Fred. Olsen Windcarrier

Bold tern 2013 3,200 12 45 800 t @ 24 m Dp2

Brave tern 2012 3,200 12 45 800 t @ 24 m Dp2

Fugro Seacore excalibur 1978 3 1,630 4 30 240 t without

GeoSea neptune 2011 1,600 7.5 52 600 t @ 26 m Dp2

innovation 2012 3,400 12 65 1,500 t @ 31.5 m Dp2

thor 2010 4 1,850 5 50 500 t @ 11.5 m Dp2

goliath 2009 1,100 6 40 400 t@ 15 m Dp2

Gulf Marine Services

gMs endeavour 2010 1,035 8 65 300 t Dp2

gMs endurance 2013 1,035 8 80 400 t Dp2

Jan de Nul Vidar 2013 3,100 12 50 1,200 t @ 27.5 m Dp2

MPI Offshore Mpi adventure 2011 3,600 12.5 40 1,000 t @ 26 m Dp2

Mpi Discovery 2011 3,600 12.5 40 1,000 t @ 26 m Dp2

Mpi enterprise 5 2012 2,850 7.5 45 1,000 t @ 25 m Dp2

Mpi resolution 2003 3,200 11 35 600 t @ 25 m Dp1

Seajacks seajacks Hydra 2014 900 10 50 400 t @ 18.5 m Dp2

seajacks Kraken 2009 900 10 41 300 t @ 16 m Dp2

seajacks leviathan 2009 900 10 41 400 t @ 18.5 m Dp2

seajacks scylla 2015 4,600 12 65 1,500 t Dp2

seajacks Zaratan 2012 2,000 9 55 800 t @ 24 m Dp2

Swire Blue Ocean

pacific orca 2012 4,300 13 70 1,200 t @ 31 m Dp2

pacific osprey 2012 4,300 13 70 1,200 t @ 31 m Dp2

Van Oord aeolus 2014 3,300 12 45 900 t @ 18 – 30 m Dp2

Workfox seafox 5 2012 3,750 10 65 1,200 t @ 25 m Dp2

Wulf See transporte

Wind lift i 2010 2,224 10 45 500 t @ 31 m Dp1

1 formerly Friedrich ernestine; 2 Conversion 2014; 3 Conversion 2003; 4 Conversion 2012; 5 formerly victoria Mathias

Market overview of wind turbine installation vessels (WTIV)

small German shipping company Wulf hSeetransporte.

With this consolidation caused by economic factors the

technical pioneer phase of the offshore installation ships

also seems to have come to an end. The WTIVs have

been developed to an advanced stage and the construc-

tion of wind farms has become a routine process. Now

a phase of cost reduction has begun and the first voices

The third outsider that had a WTIV built was the

company Bard Offshore, which with the highly risky

ambition to do everything itself – from the construction

of its own wind turbine and foundation structure to the

installation of wind farms – failed within a few years.

The company went bankrupt some years ago and their

construction ship Wind Lift 1 is now chartered out by the

31


are loudly defining targets whereby construction can

go faster and more smoothly, and money thus can be

saved.

the 24/12/24/12 mantraThere was a limit to the demands that could be placed on

the ships of the pioneer phase. For the second- generation

ships there is no such honeymoon period. They were

very expensive and must earn their money. “There have

been plenty of expectations around second-generation

vessels”, reports Søren Grøn, Project Manager at the

pioneer company A2Sea, and poses the question as to

whether these highly specialized ships will come up to

expectations.

Around 15 years ago, the Danish shipping company

A2Sea became the first to exclusively specialize in the

construction of offshore wind farms. Initially, the com-

pany used converted freighters and jack-up barges but

at the end of 2012 it put the Sea Installer into service

and two years later the Sea Challenger. Both ships can

transport eight complete 3.6 MW Siemens wind turbines

and can work faster, safer and more cheaply than their

predecessors. Their performance is measured according

to a mantra that A2Sea itself has formulated. “During

the design phase, the 24/12/24/12 mantra functioned

as a springboard for creating innovative approaches to

installation methodologies”, says Grøn.

What do these four figures mean? The new ships

should be able to dock, load their freight and set off back

to sea within 24 hours. They should not need more than

12 hours to jack up at the working point at sea, install

the wind turbine and move to the next position – in

other words they should be able to work to the rhythm

of the tides. Thirdly, it should be possible to perform the

processes to put a wind turbine into operation within 24

hours. The fourth figure does not refer to a time period

but to the wind speed: it should be possible to mount

the rotor blades at sea in a wind of 12 m/s.

The first of these requirements has proved to be rela-

tively easy to fulfil if the port traffic allows for punctual

departures. The loading of eight nacelles, eight towers

and 24 rotor blades takes significantly less than 24 hours

Consulting · Marine Operations & LogisticsEngineering · Health, Safety & Environment (HSE)

[email protected] · www.searenergy.com

sea energy

OFFSHORE - PERSONNEL

ENGINEERING ROV SERVICEDIVING

Branch office Mukran · Im Fährhafen Sassnitz 18546 Sassnitz / Neu Mukran · T +49 (0)38392 - 553 55 [email protected]

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according to A2Sea. How long it then takes until the ship

can start working at sea is, however, dependent on har-

bour restrictions and not on the performance capability

of the ship.

Installation and transfer to the next point within 12

hours is possible in theory – but not always in practice,

admits Grøn. At the wind farm West of Duddon Sands

the Sea Installer needed between 12 and 15 hours,

whereby jacking up and down and moving to the next

point usually required more time than the installation

itself, which was normally completed within six hours.

A2Sea has no influence on the process of putting the

wind turbine into operation, only on accommodating the




http://www.searenergy.com



Market overview of heavy lift crane vessel (HLCV)Owner Name Commissioned

(year)Deck area (m2) Service speed

(kn)Lifting capacity

(t @ m)DP class

Conquest Offshore Operations Conquest MB1 2012 3,400 6 1,400 t without

Heerema Marine Contractors Thialf 1985 2,500 6 2 × 7,100 t @

32.1 m

DP3

Jumbo Jumbo Javelin 2004 3,100 17 1,800 t DP2

Fairplayer 2008 3,100 17 1,800 t DP2

Sal Heavy Lift MV Lone 2011 3,500 20 2,000 t DP2

Oleg Strashnov 2011 3,700 12 5,000 t @ 32 m DP2

Stanislav Yudin 1985 2,500 12 2,500 t @ 32.5 m without

Scaldis-SMC Rambiz 1996 1 1,500 6 1,700 t; 1,600 t without

Van Oord Svanen 1990 2,500 7 8,700 t without

installers as comfortable as possible on the ship. When

they completed the processes within 24 hours, it was

probably due to them feeling comfortable on the Sea

Installer, says Grøn with a wink of the eye.

Arbitrary and realistic targets The fourth figure represents a high hurdle. The rela-

tively strong wind of 12 m/s defined by the mantra

sour

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Phot

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1 Conversion 2000

has not yet been achieved by A2Sea: “Even with Sea

Installer, blades are still being lifted in not much more

than 9 m/s”, admits Grøn.

In the case of the wind speed, the definition of the

mantra seems to be somewhat arbitrary, as if the aim

was to define all the important parameters using the

numbers 12 and 24. The company’s competitors are

not quite so ambitious. Ben Robinson, Major Projects

& Operations Manager at MPI Offshore calculates with

an average of 36 hours for dock, load and sail (when six

wind turbines are to be transported) and with 24 hours

for the erection of each turbine. MPI Offshore has set a

wind speed limit of 10 m/s for the installation of rotor

blades, thereby coming slightly nearer to the limit set

by A2Sea than the company itself.

The other shipping companies are keeping quiet

about such things. Which targets will be achievable in

the end without increasing the risks during installation

has yet to be seen. But the discussion about the reduc-

tion of costs will be an ongoing theme in the industry

over the coming years, and it will therefore be unavoid-

able that targets for the installation of wind turbines are

set towards which everyone must be orientated.

Detlef Koenemann

When WtiV shortages avoide, heavy-lift crane

vessels like Jumbo Javelin are put to use.

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Logistics & operations | Protective clothing

those who work out at sea, exposed to wind,

weather and heights need special workwear –

this starts with protective clothing and goes ‘

far beyond gloves.

Gloves are not just gloves

A sales coach from

the sportswear

business as-

signed workshop attendees the task

of characterizing a popular textile

with a single word. The textile is

used in sports shoes and jackets and

is impermeable to water while still

being breathable. The word he was

looking for – “dry” – describes the

most prominent feature of Gore-Tex,

which is dry on both the inside and

the working gear worn for offshore work is not just a question of comfort – it’s important for safety. this is true of marine abandonment suits and even of gloves.

Phot

o: D

ong

ener

gy

the outside. Just the word “dry” al-

ready evokes a positive feeling. The

advertising focussing on this term

was a resounding market success.

Quick-dryWhat works in the sports and leisure

industry also applies to workwear.

Being wet and, in some cases, cold is

uncomfortable. What is more, it can

be proven that employees’ motiva-

tion rises when they’re in dry work

gear. Wet workwear leads to sick

days and lower productivity and is

a safety risk.

Simple drying systems like the

ones distributed by Pronomar, a

Dutch company, can dry workwear

quickly. Special drying appliances

for common offshore clothing en-

sure that no hidden wet bulges form

in the wet clothes. The systems en-

sure optimal air circulation through

hidden zones.


pronomar’s drying systems require little space and dry protective

suits in a few hours.

Phot

o: P

rono

mar

If the work clothes need to be

used again quickly, they can be dried

in the drying cabinet, which has little

in common with a household dryer.

The Pronomar dryer does not have a

spinning drum; instead, it re sembles

a locker, with a warm stream of air

circulating around jackets, boots

and gloves. “If the clothes are only

moderately wet or sweaty, an hour

in the dryer is enough. Clothes that

are completely soaked through take

a maximum of two hours,” says Eva

Baars of Pronomar.

Gloves are vital for safetyWhile it is true that wet or sweat-

drenched working gear is not one

of the main problems of offshore

projects, many small issues can lead

to bigger ones. Wet workwear is not

the only risk. The wrong choice of

gloves can have consequences that

jeopardize the ability to work.

gloves basically have to be worn for

all tasks, especially when handling

lubricants, solvents and other

chemicals. The choice of materials

for the working gloves depends on

which chemicals are being worked

with. Some combinations of glove

materials and chemicals are listed in

Seahealth Denmark’s table below.

Consulting agency Seahealth

Denmark therefore emphasizes that

“gloves are not just gloves” and

adds that the wrong type of glove

can result in eczema. This in itself

does not necessarily have anything

to do with safety, but it could if,

for instance, pain seriously affects

the ability to grip tightly. Working

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“Our new software tool Wind & Economy brings down the cost for your offshore wind farm, effectively supporting your wind farm optimization process with respect to energy production and cost uncertainty.” Dr. Hans-Peter Waldl, Dipl.-Phys. Thomas Pahlke, Managing Directors

overspeed GmbH & Co. KG

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New abandonment suitsThere’s a large selection of gloves

on the market, and the sheer number

of products for workwear makes the

choice difficult when it comes to

protective suits, as well. This sum-

mer, for example, Secumar intro-

duced new abandonment suits and

survival suits.

The abandonment suits do not

have an integrated buoyancy system

and therefore need to be combined

with a life jacket in accordance with

DIN EN ISO 12402-2. According to

DIN EN ISO 15027-1, marine aban-

donment suits complement the life

jacket so that the complete equip-

ment now not only keeps the head

above water, but also protects against

death from freezing. The suits are

impermeable to water and users

can adapt to water temperatures

individually by using underclothes

of varying thickness. Secumar has

inserted Gore-Tex membranes into

all its suits. According to the manu-

facturer, this membrane is capable

of preventing water from penetrat-

ing from the outside; at the same

time, it wicks sweat from the inside

to the outside. This function is also

marketed with the term “breathable”

by other manufacturers.

The developers at Secumar

designed the new models for both

work and sports. The Contra 110

models are lightweight undersuits

that can be worn under any piece

of clothing. The Contra 140 suits,

meanwhile, are work suits and sur-

vival suits and are also available as

a variant with an internal safety fall

protection harness for tasks at great

heights.

Jörn Iken

.

How someone behaves when

they are in the water can de-

termine whether or not they

survive. The basic principle is

to move as little as possible.

For example, a person can

swim for about two hours in

10° C water before fatal cold

injuries arise, but remaining

calm in a foetal position can

double survival time. Survival

time triples when people use

life jackets and remain com-

pletely immobile. The same

applies to clothing. In 5° C

water, it takes at least five

hours in a dry suit, in which

the person remains dry, be-

fore they lose consciousness.

In normal clothes, this time

shortens to one hour, and a

naked person has as little as

25 minutes.

Deadly cold

in combination with a secumar life jacket, the

contra 140 as work and survival suit with

integrated fall protection forms a system for per-

sonal protection for all jobs on and over water.

Phot

o: S

ecum

ar

Source: Seahealth Denmark

A good fi tChemical group Glove material

chlorinated and aromatic carbonates, e.g. dichloroethane, toluene, xylene

pVa, fluorine polymeric

aliphatic carbonates e.g. heptane pVa, fluorine polymeric, neoprene, nitrile, polyethylene

alcohols and glycols Butyle, natural rubber, neoprene, nitrile, polyethylene

esters and ketones, e.g. butylacetate, acetone, methyl ethyl ketone

pVa (not suitable for ethyl acetate)

acids and bases pVc

oils nitrile, neoprene, viton, pVc

ELA Container Offshore GmbH, Zeppelinstraße 19-21, 49733 Haren (Ems), Germany

Tel: +49 5932 506-506, Fax: +49 5932 506-10, E-Mail: [email protected], www.ela-offshore.com

Offshore Accommodation for rent and sale

We produce stand-alone offshore containers for rigs, converter platforms and all types of seagoing vessels,

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Mess Rooms, Galleys, Laundry Facilities, Recreation or Locker Rooms for your individual demand. Save

space and stack all these units up to 4 levels high, connected to a full service accommodation facility.

ELA stairway and gangway modules are easily integrated into this system and are quickly assembled.

Your individual solution on short notice, ready to use immediately. All containers are “Made in Germany”

and have the DNV 2.7-1 / EN 12079 offshore certification.


http://www.ela-offshore.com

38 offshore Wind indusTry 4|2015

Gra

phic

: Wor

dle.

net

Under

Insurance premiums for the construction phase of offshore wind farms are falling. The prospect of good business with just a moderate risk of losses is attracting new insurance companies. But affordable insurance packages for smaller subcontractors are still lacking.

without any damage claims are still outliers, complete

coverage for projects is currently no problem. Instead,

the insurance packages that brokers design and place on

the market are often oversubscribed. This is due to the

apparently very good work the wind industry does at sea,

which has piqued the interest of the insurance compa-

nies. “The variety of participants is rising and premiums

are falling because the available capacities on the market

are on the way up. This naturally creates pressure,” says

Olaf Weidemann of the insurance brokerage Aon Risk

If you want to make an omelette, you’ve

got to break some eggs, as the saying goes.

That is a lesson not lost on technical insu-

rance companies that cover the construc-

tion risks of major infrastructure projects.

Offshore wind farms, which not long ago were fraught

with risks and only insurable with great patience and

detailed explanation, also play in this league.

Now the tables have turned. Although offshore

wind farms that make it through the construction phase

poliTics & business | Insurance

pressure

39

politics & business

risks or disposal of unexploded ordinance are explicitly

not covered. The same is true in principle of poor work

performance. Because companies are responsible for per-

forming their work properly, there is also no insurance

against shoddiness. In such cases, insurers only cover

damage to property resulting from poor workmanship.

After commissioning, the needs of the operator

once again take centre stage “The interests of the

entrepreneurs that are fully insured during construc-

tion are covered only to a limited extent for follow-up

work, remedying of defects or damage found later on,”

says Weidemann.

Cable damage remains a persistent issueA perennial problem in the construction phase is cable

damage, which on average costs € 5 million to repair.

Insurance companies have learned their lessons in this

regard. “For cable, there are higher deductibles, which

range between € 500,000 and € 1 million. The damage is

then handled by the project insurance of the operator,”

says Matthias Petzsch, a technical underwriter at HDI-

Gerling Industrial Insurance. The company, along with

Danish Codan, Swiss Re Corporate Solutions, Axia and

Allianz is one of the so-called lead insurers.

The power substations inside wind farms account for

a major chunk of the overall risk. The stations are insured

for property damage to the tune of some € 80 million.

Added to that, in the event of a total failure, a service

interruption can occur because getting a replacement

can easily take two years. For a 400 MW wind farm, the

maximum damage scenario may well amount to € 600

to 700 million. “Even large insurance companies have

problems with such huge sums. That is why these risks

are broken down and distributed,” says Petzsch.

In this case, the likelihood that a substation is burned

out or destroyed by a broken-down ship is not of critical

importance to the insurance companies. Rather, they are

concerned with the probable maximum loss (PML) for

which they may be held liable. And that generally occurs

in a natural disaster. For instance, a furious hundred-

year storm in the North Sea could cause considerable

Solutions. Specialised brokers like Aon are an important

interface for insurance companies. They accompany the

entire process between investors, manufacturers, gen-

eral contractors, their subcontractors, and ultimately

banks. After all, without fully comprehensive insurance

coverage there can be no funding.

Tenders for insurance packagesDue to the considerable investment costs of well over

€ 1 billion, no single insurance company bears the

risk alone. Instead, brokers place the packages on the

insurance market in a tender procedure. “The leading

insurer in the consortium, which accepts 30 to 40 %

of the premium and the risk, negotiates the conditions

of the insurance and is responsible for settling claims.

These negotiated results are binding for all the other

participating insurance companies by subsequent obli-

gation,” Weidemann said, explaining the procedure.

For such policies, the interest of the insurance

companies is initially focused on the risks during the

construction and operational phases. Products that also

cover the first year of operation, thus avoiding duplica-

tion of insurance premiums during the actual operating

phase have established themselves. During construction,

not only the interests of the operators, but also those of

all the companies involved in the project are covered.

This concept is designed to keep peace at the construc-

tion site if damage occurs and ensures that there is no

interruption of the project flow. The underlying principle

is that there is a common interest with the operator in

the completion of the project and that responsibilities

are clarified in advance. However, insurance companies

are not prepared to cover real business risks, such as

development risks. For that reason, the critical issue

with regard to the main works within the wind farm

is who carries which risks and can take the financial

responsibility.

Installation insurance covers any unforeseen

damages to property. Because insurance companies

are concerned mainly with property damage, monetary

losses due to delayed grid connections, pure weather

40 offshore Wind indusTry 4|2015

damage to wind turbines in addition to the total loss of

the substation.

risk-optimised contract structures The fact that contractors and their subcontractors

are increasingly held liable in the construction phase

has been well received by insurance companies. “If a

company says that it can perform a particular task and

carries the risk, that is good, and it has an impact on the

premiums,” says Petzsch. However, there is a catch for

small and medium-sized subcontractors. “They have to

pay high insurance premiums to be able to participate in

the tendering processes at all, and they have to pay those

premiums for several years. That’s why there is scarcely

any competition for large projects,” says Andrew Carr,

Managing Director of Construction Project and Cost

Management.

The motto “No insurance, no job” is also well known

to Thomas Haukje of Northwest Insurance Agency.

“There is a new market for special policies for con-

tractors’ risk coverage. Smaller companies often have

difficulty covering their risks via the balance sheet

or with collateral guarantees. At the same time, these

risks can also mean a heavy loss. The level of protec-

tion always depends on the equipment, experience and

personnel,” he says. The broker has a lot of experience

in this segment and is the market leader in the German

North Sea. In three projects the company was the lead

member of the consortium and has had also had inquir-

ies from Japan.

Because banks do not want to take any risks during

the production and construction phase, they distribute it

among manufacturers, operators, general contractors, sup-

pliers and subcontractors. Smaller subcontractors in partic-

ular who swim in the wake of the general contractor have

to have a clear understanding of their work and their risk.

That is why the long discussions between stake holders

emphasise transparency and risk-optimised contract

structures. “The insurance concepts must be geared toward

all of the contractors involved in the construction phase

and the risks have to be clearly distributed. This includes

insurance solutions for manufacturers, suppliers and sub-

contractors in the construction phase,” explains Haukje.

exchange of views on problems and solutions Dialogue between insurers, equipment manufacturers,

energy providers and suppliers is intended to ensure

confidence in the technology. In other sectors of indus-

try, such as gas turbines, an exchange about problems

and their solutions is common. “This active dialogue

The power substations of offshore wind farms

account for a major chunk of the risk.

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poliTics & business | Insurance

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2015-10-08_OWI.pdf 1 08.10.2015 09:45:40

creates a basis for discussion with manufacturers,

because insurance companies have to understand the

technical risks. Such forums make offshore wind projects

insurable and that is ultimately in the interests of all of

the stakeholders,” says Guido Benz, Head of Engineering

& Construction at Swiss Re. The reinsurer has devel-

oped its own team of experts to assess the risks of major

projects and still sees potential for new business in the

offshore wind segment.

But after commissioning, the deck is reshuffled, be-

cause all the players involved in the operational phase

again bear their own risks and must be insured against

them again. The insurance cover for operators depends

on what was agreed in full maintenance contracts and

any guarantees provided by the manufacturer. If, for

instance, a turbine supplier assumes responsibility for

all of the repairs and replacement of large components

but the operator is responsible for providing the neces-

sary ships, the coverage can get pricey.

Whether an insurance company will offer coverage

for the operation of an offshore wind farm, always de-

pends on its risk philosophy. “The construction phase is

of course a good introduction to the operational phase

which the companies make efforts to cover. That is more

the classic insurance business with a wider group of

stakeholders. But participation always depends on how

many offshore wind farms are already in the portfolio

and where they are located. For example, risks from se-

vere storms in the North Sea are limited,” says Benz.

Torsten Thomas


Going once, going twice,

sold!The Dutch government will be auctioning off 700 MW of offshore wind power annually until 2019. The tender process will begin in early 2016. This means that the offshore wind industry in Holland is off to a fresh start.

The market only started roll-

ing again when there were early

elections and a new coalition was

formed in 2012. In 2013, forty or-

ganisations and the new govern-

ment under Rutte signed the Energy

Agreement for Sustainable Growth.

The agreement includes 4,450 MW

of offshore wind by 2023 and a

complete transition to renewable

energies by 2050.

was simply too expensive for the

government as a whole and incum-

bent Prime Minister Mark Rutte in

particular. Instead of transitioning

to green energy by building more

offshore wind farms, policymakers

and the industry wasted time with a

complicated funding system (SDE)

and bureaucratic obstacles. The end

result of this was that not one single

new offshore wind farm was built.

F or a long time,

things were quiet

on the Dutch

coast. In 2007 and 2008, the first

commercial wind farms, Princess

Amalia and Egmond aan Zee, were

connected to the grid. The 230 MW

capacity they brought online was

only supposed to be the prelude for

a target of 6 GW by 2020. But that

never came to pass. The technology Phot

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iwin

dpar

k.nl

POLITICS & BUSINESS | NETHERLANDS

43

Going once, going twice,

sold!

Getting the job done Parliament got down to brass tacks

in July of this year with the Off-

shore Wind Energy Act. This new

law reorganises the expansion of

wind power and the responsibilities

of politics and the industry. In addi-

tion, the future wind zones are part

of the Dutch National Water Plan.

This takes into account the various

economic and environmental inter-

ests in the territorial waters of the

Netherlands and aims to create plan-

ning security for the three newly-

established wind zones.

According to the current sched-

ule, the calls for bids will begin in

the first quarter of 2016 with the

Borssele zone, which is near the

Belgian border. Wind farms with

a total capacity of 1,400 MW are

planned for the region. The annual

tenders will comprise 700 MW in

two zones, each of which will have

350 MW. A further 1,400 MW will

be tendered in another project area

off the coast of southern Holland in

2017, and a third zone in the north of

Holland will be limited to 700 MW.

The tenders for that area will begin

in 2019.

This is a paradigm shift for the

government in The Hague. The old

SDE funding model (Subsidierege-

ling Duurzame Energieproductie)

was less than attractive for offshore

wind. On the one hand, investors had

to pay for the grid connection them-

selves as well as pre-finance all pre-

liminary planning for the necessary

approvals out of their own pockets.

On the other hand, they could not

count on funding even if they had

received approval for their con-

struction projects because the total

amount of funding available was

capped due to cost constraints. This

is why the last round of tenders in

accordance with the old system saw

many approvals for building further

wind farms being awarded, but only

the Luchterduinen (120 MW) and

Gemini (600 MW) projects are re-

ceiving € 4.5 billion in government

funding over a period of fifteen

years.

Luchterduinen has been com-

plete since September 2015, but

work on Gemini only began last

summer. Their investors, which in-

clude Siemens Financial Services

and Northland Power from Canada,

were able to secure a price of

168 €/MWh in 2010. The bottom

line, however, was that a reliable

framework for investors was miss-

ing. “Gemini and Luchterduinen

are the last two projects that will

be built using the old funding sys-

tem. The government is trying a

new strategy in the North Sea. It

will be auctioning off a further

3,450 MW by 2019 in a tender pro-

cedure. Bidders who fulfil all crite-

ria and offer the lowest price will

be awarded contracts. The ceiling

for bids during the first round with

700 MW is expected to be around

124 €/MWh,” explained Geert

Harm Boerhave at the Netherlands

Enterprise Agency (RVO), which be-

longs to the Ministry of Economic

Affairs.

First bonusThis change of direction will create

reliable framework conditions for

building new offshore wind farms.

However, in order to be awarded a

contract, potential candidates have

to stay as far below the price limit

as possible to increase their chances.

The actual government funding is

basically a contract for difference

that limits the cost and has a matu-

rity of 15 years. It specifies that an

operator will receive the difference

between his bid price and the base

price on the electricity exchange,

which has been determined for one

year. Eighty percent of this differ-

ence is paid out as a monthly instal-

ment and a final settlement is gener-

ated once a year.

This system is quite risky for in-

vestors because they have to sell the

electricity on the market on a daily

basis, and the price can fall below

the average base price. In addition,

the industry in Holland has to get by

without an adjustment for inflation.

On the other hand, a 10 % bonus

will initially be paid on top of the

subsidies to compensate for uncer-

tainties in the calculated wind re-

sources. The assumption here is that

the probability that the wind farms

will reach the predicted number of

full load hours is 50 %. The instal-

ments are calculated based on these

forecasts.

RVO paid out a first bonus in

October and published all informa-

tion relevant for the bidding process.

There is now a complete package

available from the government for

politics & businessBy early September, 80 out of 150 foundations at the

Gemini wind farm had been driven and the two substa-

tions installed.


POLITICS & BUSINESS | NETHERLANDS

interested investors similar to the

one in Denmark. It allows develop-

ers to begin the design phase. “In

addition to all necessary authorisa-

tions, the packages also contain data

on wind resources, unexploded ord-

nance or the type of seabed that was

determined by drilling,” Boerhave

said. The grid connection, which will

be provided by the Dutch grid op-

erator TenneT TSO, is also included.

Since all projects are relatively close

to shore, alternating current is suf-

ficient for the connections.

In order to keep costs within

limits here as well, standardised

substations with a capacity of 700

MW will be used. There are no re-

quirements regarding the types of

turbines and foundations, but the

number of turbines per wind farm

is limited to 96. In addition, opera-

tors need to fulfil extensive protec-

tion requirements for porpoises,

birds and bats using appropriate de-

terrence measures and automated

monitoring systems. For example,

when the foundations are driven

into the seabed, noise needs to be

kept lower than 160 or 172 dB, de-

pending on the time of year.

Promoting innovationPolicymakers are hoping that by

creating a framework that will not

change until 2023, they will be

able to save costs of up to 40 % in

the areas of construction and opera-

tion, and for this reason, the starting

prices will be reduced in the up-

coming rounds. “It could be around

5 € / MWh and will depend on the wa-

ter depths in the project areas, among

other things. However, innovations

are expected to reduce the costs for

the second tender,” Boerhave said.

The Top Consortium for Knowl-

edge and Innovation Offshore Wind

(TKI Wind op Zee) will also be con-

tributing. It controls the research

and development work between

industry, science and policy makers.

This applies to collaborations and

projects, but it also includes an off-

shore research wind farm, which

is used to test new methods and

technologies for construction and

operation. “TKI is bringing innova-

tions to the market. We are currently

preparing the tender for a demon-

stration site that will begin in early

2016. This procedure is not part of

the tenders for offshore wind, but

rather a separate process that al-

lows Dutch companies to test their

ideas,” Project Manager Bob Meijer

at TKI said.

After a long dry spell, those

companies will soon have work on

their own doorstep. Up till now,

the specialists had used their large

maritime equipment and know-how

to lower costs in other European

offshore markets. “The Dutch off-

shore wind industry is very happy

with the transition to a new system

because it will create new jobs and

add value in the Netherlands as well

as innovations on the market,” said

Albert van der Hem at the Northern

Netherlands Offshore Wind network.

This means that the only ones walk-

ing away almost empty-handed will

be the project developers who had

not received confirmation that they

would be receiving funding via the

old system. Their approvals were re-

voked without replacement. Instead,

€ 600,000 will be provided as com-

pensation for all old projects.

Torsten Thomas Phot

o: V

an O

ord

Tendering roadmapYear Power Wind farm zone

2015 700 MW Borssele wind farm zone

2016 700 MW Borssele wind farm zone

2017 700 MW South Holland coast wind farm zone

2018 700 MW South Holland coast wind farm zone

2019 700 MW North Holland coast wind farm zone

After a long wait, a new

offshore wind farm,

Luchterduinen, was

connected to the Dutch

grid in September.

The print magazine OFFSHORE WIND INDUSTRY appears four times a year – and now it has a digital child. Every last Friday of the month owi_digital brings you up to date on all of the news that has moved the offshore wind industry in the preceding month.

owi_digital guides you through the swamp of press releases and newsletters to the truly relevant topics.

owi_digital also offers you exclusive content produced especiallyfor owi_digital.

With owi_digital you get the most important offshore wind industry news and information conveniently delivered to your mailbox on the last Friday of every month

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The OFFSHORE WIND INDUSTRY family is growing!

Want to reach the offshore wind industry with an advert in owi_digital?Just contact Martin Haase at +49 521-595 590, [email protected]




events

o ffshore Energy Exhibition & Conference

2015 (OEEC) brought together industry

leaders, (young) professionals and stu-

dents during a high quality conference program, at

the many networking opportunities and on the large

exhibition area. For three days – starting on October

12 with the full day Offshore WIND Conference (OWC)

– Amsterdam was a meeting place for a host of interna-

tional clients, OEMs, EPC companies and suppliers ac-

tive in the complete range of offshore energy business.

OEEC 2015 was opened by Coert van Zijll Langhout,

Managing Director of Navingo BV and Scarlett

Mummery, a YP offshore geotechnical engineer spe-

cializing in geology and seabed drill operations who

talked about her goals and ambition to enroll young

people (both female and male) in the offshore industry.

The meanwhile 6th OWC focused on “building an in-

dustry without borders”. If the offshore wind industry

is to realize its potential growth, the industry needs

to exceed borders; geographically, in legislation and

mentally. More than 20 expert speakers and over 150

industry professionals discussed how taking down

barriers can lead to further industry growth.

record-breaking exhibitionThe following two days, 658 exhibitors covered four

large halls of the Amsterdam RAI. The growth in

exhibitors is an anti-cyclical development in a turbu-

lent market. Each company used their own techniques

– from robots that you could take a selfie with to an

F1 simulator – to attract visitors to their booths and

draw attention to their specialism and high-tech selling

points. In the different pavilions, such as the Italy

pavilion, the Holland pavilion and the Training and

Development pavilion people came together in an en-

ergetic environment to meet up and/or network, while

the different drinks, happenings and bars provided nice

breaks in often fully packed days.

Next year Offshore Energy Exhibition & Conference

takes place on October 25-26, 2016.

Constructive, anti-cyclical, energeticWith 658 exhibitors, 23,000 m2 floor space and visitors from 86 nationalities, Offshore Energy Exhibition & Conference grew compared to last year. 11,865 visitors came to Amsterdam RAI to meet up with companies or to attend the conference.

Offshore WIND Con-

ference took place

one day before Off-

shore Energy Exhibi-

tion & Conference.

Phot

o: O

ffsh

ore

WIN

D

47dates

Safety at maritime transportNovember 10 – 11, 2015

Berlin (Germany)

This seminar, organized by the German Ministry of

Transport and digital infrastructure, is about the German

shipping policy for safe transport on the high seas. Topics

include the carriage of cargo and load securing, reliable

navigation and possible future developments.

www.seeverkehrssicherheit.de

EWEA 2015 Annual EventNovember 17 – 20, 2015

Paris (France)

The EWEA 2015 Annual Event presents an international

platform for the wind energy industry to showcase and

demonstrate its latest products and services. The event

features a broad conference programme, unrivalled net-

working opportunities and an extensive exhibition.

www.ewea.org/annual2015

Offshore Wind Construction & InstallationDecember 2 – 3, 2015

Hamburg (Germany)

This event serves an interactive experience that will guide,

improve & complete the participant’s strategy for the next

wave of construction projects. It is targeted specifically at

key executives and decision makers in the offshore wind

C&I industry.

www.windenergyupdate.com/offshore-construction

2nd International Conference 66kv for Offshore WindNovember 30 – December 2, 2015

Bremen (Germany)

This is a technical event for experts in the wind industry.

The goal is to provide a clear path to commercial imple-

mentation of 66kV array grids by reducing both uncer-

tainty and time to implementation.

www.66kv-offshore-wind.com

2nd International Conference Giant Offshore Wind TurbinesNovember 30 – December 2, 2015

Bremen (Germany)

The conference will focus on new designs, supply chain

industrialisation, current prototypes as well as experience

from wind farms already installed. Expert speakers will

present technical challenges which come along with new

offshore turbine classes.

www.giant-offshore-turbines.com

Customs clearance for offshore windDecember 3, 2015

Bremen (Germany)

This seminar is aimed specifically at the operational staff

of companies that install, operate and maintain offshore

wind farms, and are responsible for the export of the

equipment with the customs clearance.

www.bav-seminar.net

Wind Operator Congress EuropeDecember 8 – 10, 2015

London (England)

This event’s aim is to unite leading owner operators,

OEMs and service providers in the pursuit of the strate-

gies, models, tools and practices to deliver operational

excellence across Europe’s wind power operations.

www.europe.windoperatorcongress.com

WINDFORCE Baltic Sea 2016January 27 – 28, 2016

Bornholm (Denmark)

WINDFORCE Baltic Sea offers a unique focus on the chal-

lenges in the Baltic Sea. The two day conference targets

on experiences and questions concerning offshore wind-

energy in the Baltic Sea. The conference will be continued

annually, every year in another country of the Baltic Sea.

www.windforce.info/balticsea/

http://www.seeverkehrssicherheit.de

http://www.ewea.org/annual2015

http://www.windenergyupdate.com/offshore-construction

http://www.66kv-offshore-wind.com

http://www.giant-offshore-turbines.com

http://www.bav-seminar.net

http://www.europe.windoperatorcongress.com

http://www.windforce.info/balticsea/

After three successful years of cooperation the offshore wind clusters of North-west Germany (represented by WAB and its subsidiary germanwind), South Denmark, East of England and Region Møre in Norway have issued a Joint Action Plan (JAP) for a cost effective progression of the offshore wind servicing industry. In September, the JAP has been presented at the ECOWindS’s final conference in Lowestoft, UK and has been the basis for a fruitful exchange on increasing inno-vation in offshore wind among more than 100 delegates from Europe.

ECOWindS shows the way to cost reduction

Phot

o: A

dwen

Gm

bH /J

an O

elke

ragenda for research, development and innovation specif-

ically for OWS industry in Denmark, Germany, Norway,

the UK and elsewhere in Europe. The recommendations

within the JAP provide an agenda for collaboration in

the development of new and improved OWS business

models, technologies and other concepts in support of

offshore wind cost reduction targets. It has been built

upon the evidence of industry priorities identified and

was established through a consultation workshop with

stakeholders and a preceding validation process.

The particular focus of ECOWindS lies on OWS,

a distinct subsector of the offshore wind value chain

which includes the processes of assembly, installation,

operation and maintenance of offshore wind farms.

Therefore the ECOWindS’s JAP is a complement to

intern

al


W hile the European offshore wind sector

is relatively young and fast grow-

ing, reducing costs across the value

chain is still one of the biggest challenges for the in-

dustry. Therefore the FP7-EU funded project ECOWindS

(i.e. European Clusters for Offshore Wind Servicing)

has been initiated to provide support. “Its objective is

to pave the way for new research and understanding

of how the costs of offshore wind serving (OWS) can

be driven down through research, innovation and cross-

border cooperation” explains ECOWindS coordinator for

the German Offshore Wind Cluster, Susanne Findeisen

from germanwind.

One of the key results of ECOWindS is the Joint

Action Plan, a roadmap and international, cross-regional

49

other research agendas on wind power presented or

under development by other organisations (e.g. EERA

and TPWind).

The eight actions recommended by the ECOWindS

JAP are:

> Establish a long lasting joint initiative for knowl-

edge sharing and innovation between regions.

> Develop a value proposition for OWS as an industry

in itself.

> Develop an OWS specific mission-orientated

research, development and innovation programme.

> Drive for international OWS specific standards.

> Develop OWS specific skills and training

programmes across regions.

> Develop an OWS industry database.

> Establish OWS specific test sites and research

infrastructure.

> Drive regulatory harmonisation on occupational

Health & Safety.

The JAP, being one of the key results of ECOWindS,

has been presented at the Final Conference in Lowestoft,

UK. The progamme was complemented by contribu-

tions from senior representatives from the offshore

wind business including MHI-Vestas, Siemens Wind

Power, James Fisher & Sons, DNV-GL and Fraunhofer

IWES. They presented their perspectives on the most

significant opportunities for cost reduction, and de-

tailed innovations they are already bringing in to ad-

dress their cost challenges.

The conference has been received very well and

facilitated a lively exchange about the topic. It became

clear that the ECOWindS’s JAP reflects and supports

the ongoing activities and future tasks of the offshore

wind service industry. It was one of the conclusions of

the conference, that the ability to consistently make

cost savings will also be strongly influenced through

the design and construction phases of developing

offshore wind farms in preparation for robust and

reliable operation in the future. Therefore a holistic

view across the full value chain is essential to take

offshore wind servicing closer to its cost reduction

targets.

While the project ECOWindS has come to an end this

October, work will continue. The consortium plans to

work on facilitating the implementation of the JAP. The

complete JAP and published reports can be downloaded

from the ECOWindS website ( www.ecowinds.eu). The

website will be up and running for the next two years.

ECOWindS is a joint project of ten partners: WAB and

its subsidiary germanwind (D), Offshoreenergy.dk (DK),

Aalborg University Denmark (DK), DTU The Technical

University of Denmark (DK), Nautilus Associates Ltd.

(UK), OrbisEnergy – Nwes Property Services Ltd (UK),

ORE Catapult (UK), Ålesund Kunnskapspark AS (NO) and

Ålesund University College (NO). ECOWindS is funded

by the European Commission, under the 7th Frame-

work Programme.

For further information, please contact:

Susanne Findeisen

WAB e.V.

Barkhausenstr. 2

27568 Bremerhaven

Phone: +49 (0) 471 - 39177-21

Fax: +49 (0) 471 - 39177-19

[email protected]

www.germanwind.info

Take advantage of the newly added value of the WAB membership

http://www.ecowinds.eu


http://www.germanwind.info


Unmanned alternativeDiving is an expensive and risky business. For this reason,

operators and service providers are increasingly turning to

robots for underwater inspections. Nevertheless, they cannot

fully replace their human workmates.

Getting more complexIn Germany the grid connection of offshore wind farms has

long been a virulent topic. Now, also in the UK the projects’

distances to the coast are getting longer and therewith the

topic of grid connection and cable is becoming more complex.

The next issue will be published on March 10, 2016For further information see www.offshorewindindustry.com

Knowing what is approaching

In order to plan installation and service reliably,

solid weather forecasts are indispensable.

Wind speed and wave height are just two of

the many relevant variables. Weather services

increasingly adjust to the special requirements of

offshore wind energy.

outlookPh

oto:

SM

D

Phot

o: M

et O

ffic

e

Phot

o: d

pa


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· issue 2015 · no. 04 · € 24 ... · pdf file · issue 2015...

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