Global Energy Transition and Offshore Wind
A successful global energy transition requires offshore wind to represent a good and attractive business case, states Mr Simons. Through cost and time efficiencies, green energy has to be as competitive as possible to speed up the replacement of fossil energy.
Industry Insights and Regulatory Challenges
In a recent industry white paper about feeder solutions for the offshore wind market, Hans Simons, consultant at Ho Tai Energy Consult, addresses some issues that Safelink considers highly relevant to the energy transition and to the active role that the company wants to play in this process.
US Offshore Wind Developments and the Jones Act
‘The offshore wind developments off the east coast of the United States offer an excellent opportunity for providers of heave and motion compensation equipment’, Mr Simons continues. The federal statute known as the Jones Act requires turbine components shipped between US ports and windfarms to be transported on installation vessels that are built and operated by the United States.
Supply Shortages and Feeder Vessel Solutions
At the moment, however, there is not a sufficient supply of such ships to enable achievement of the ambitious US offshore wind targets. Wind farm developers will therefore have to use alternative solutions.
Feeder barges and ships are considered to be the most likely solution for transporting tower pieces, nacelles and blades to the jack-up installation vessels in the field. In any case, state-of-the-art heave and motion compensation equipment will be needed to enable a swift and safe transfer of the components.
Safelink’s Role in the Offshore Wind Transition
Our chief commercial officer, Andre Holthe, could not agree more with Hans Simons’ industry white paper ‘Feeding the Beast’. He states that Safelink’s products are tailormade for these floating-to-fixed transferes, and our motion and heave compensation tools will ensure that they can be safely executed.
This will allow the installation vessel to stay at the windfarm and maximise its in-field activities, while the turbine components are being delivered from port by feeder vessels in a cost and time efficient way.
Read the full industry white paper “Feeding the Beast”:
