ALTERNATiVES ShipBuilding that provide valuable wildlife habitat. Many businesses anticipate these emerging uses will provide economic opportunities for established maritime industries. At Offshore Alternatives 2012, a conference produced by Marine Log, participants heard from wind and hydrokinetic developers about the prospects for future business opportunities, such as providing maintenance and support vessels to offshore projects. The National Ocean Policy is designed to manage emerging opportunities while stimulating job creation and economic growth—specifically guiding the federal agencies to support sustainable, safe, secure and productive uses and to respect and preserve maritime heritage. “Bringing all the government agencies together on ocean policy is long overdue,” said Jim Lanard, president of the Offshore Wind Development Coalition. “Everyone wants to get it right.” One aspect of the policy is smart ocean-use planning. Many groups have deemed it “a common sense approach” to ocean and coastal management. It encourages agencies to work together
BMt to provide WSV designs Industrial company BLRT Marketex has signed an agreement with BMT Nigel Gee (BMT), Southampton, UK, that will see the design consultancy firm provide the vessel designs for the BLRT Gruup AS subsidiary. Following the agreement, BMT got straight to work on four 24m highly flexible and high capacity Windfarm Support Vessels (WSV) that BLRT will be buidling for Englandbased Sure Wind Marine. The new DNV classed vessels are currently in the design phase. Construction is expected to begin later this year. A provider of reliable and flexible offshore vessels for Europe’s renewables industry, Sure Wind Marine, also has four 20m WSV’s under build contract with BLRT Marketex.
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with states and tribes and with input from ocean users to map out which ocean areas are best suited for certain activities. If done right, supporters say, it provides a road map for development that gives industry more certainty and clarity about the permitting process, thus saving time and money. “Industries can co-exist in the same waters, but only if the sufficient coordination is in place. The National Ocean Policy provides that service,” William Moore, CEO of Deepwater Wind, said in an op-ed supporting the policy.
This planning involves compiling information about the environment and human uses in an area in order to create an ocean atlas, allowing everyone to see what’s going on and identify areas for emerging uses. The process also includes inviting stakeholders to ocean town hall meetings and other open forums that give everyone a say in decisions. Some states are already participating in planning similar to what’s outlined in the National Ocean Policy. One recent example is Rhode Island, where a proposed wind farm needed a site that fit smoothly with existing ocean uses while preserving ocean health. State and federal agencies worked together with input from stakeholders and the scientific community to create the Ocean Special Area Management Plan (OSAMP). Throughout the process, a number of actively involved maritime sector representatives—including marine pilots, port managers and ferry operators—brought vital information to the table and made their priorities known. As a result of this process, planners identified areas imporcontinued on p. 50
aBS concludes floating wind turbine feasibility study Houston-based classification society ABS has completed a study on the technical feasibility of floating wind turbines for the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE). The goal of the study was to determine how floating structures and moorings would be affected by the interaction between the wind turbine, rotor, control system, floating platform and mooring/ cable system. Additionally, the study would reveal how different loading events could impact these systems. The project, awarded to ABS in December 2010 through BSEE’s Technology Assessment and Research (TA&R) Program, included a study on the technical viability of existing floating wind tur-
bines. The results of the study would later serve as the basis for identifying the critical technical challenges to deploying floating wind turbines on the U.S Outer Continental Shelf (OCS). “While hydrocarbons will be the dominant source of energy in the foreseeable future, there is a need to expand the world’s energy mix,” says Kenneth Richardson, ABS Executive Vice President, Energy Project Development. “ABS is pleased to be working with the BSEE to help determine the viability of offshore wind energy installations for the U.S.” Extensive case studies were conducted to evaluate the characteristic load conditions and global responses of three representative design concepts, including
a spar-type, a TLP-type and a column-stabilized (semisubmersible-type) floating support structure and their associated stationkeeping systems. Additionally, operational and extreme environmental conditions of the East, West and Gulf of Mexico coastal regions on the US OCS were applied in all of the case studies. After the research findings were presented in March, recommendations were made by a group of representatives from national registries, industry, government and academia, calling for further research on the simulation software, design and analysis methods, design standard development and hurricane wind modeling for floating offshore wind turbines. ML
AuguST 2002 MariNe log 19 JunE 2012 YEARBOOK MariNe log 49