Offshore Wind Journal 1st Quarter 2019

Journal 1st Quarter 2019

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Offshore access and vessel services market in transition

EMERGING MARKETS Islands arise as offshore wind niche

TAIWAN Government steps back from the brink

FOUNDATIONS Fixed versus floating – a false dichotomy?

ANALYSIS Hydrogen hybrids will help integrate wind

Contents 1st Quarter 2019 volume 8 issue 1

Regulars 3 COMMENT

Area reports

4 Taiwan: potentially disastrous changes in government policy have been averted 8 US: the Massachusetts auction eclipsed the results of all other lease sales 11 Scotland: Scotland’s first leasing round will not now take place until July 2019 14 Wales: scaling up offshore wind could help Wales meet targets

Analysis

17 Siemens is an advoate of green hydrogen

Interview

20 The Business Network for Offshore Wind brings industry together

Emerging markets

22 Niche markets for offshore wind are emerging, among them islands

Finance

24 An analysis of how much capacity £60M might actually buy

Turbines

27 Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy has unveiled a 10 MW+ unit

Vessels

28 A revolutionary semi-submersible installation vessel is being built 29 Acta Marine’s newbuild has been described as a ‘smart hotel’ 30 Louis Dreyfus Armateurs’ new SOV has fuel efficiency at its heart

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Editor: David Foxwell t: +44 1252 717 898 e: david.foxwell@rivieramm.com Commercial Portfolio Manager: Bill Cochrane t: +44 20 8370 1719 e: bill.cochrane@rivieramm.com Head of Sales – Asia: Kym Tan t: +65 6809 1278 e: kym.tan@rivieramm.com Sales, Australasia: Kaara Barbour t: +61 414 436 808 e: kaara.barbour@rivieramm.com Production Manager: Ram Mahbubani t: +44 20 8370 7010 e: ram.mahbubani@rivieramm.com Subscriptions: Sally Church t: +44 20 8370 7018 e: sally.church@rivieramm.com Chairman: John Labdon Managing Director: Steve Labdon Finance Director: Cathy Labdon Head of Content: Edwin Lampert Published by: Riviera Maritime Media Ltd Mitre House 66 Abbey Road Enfield EN1 2QN UK

Foundations

32 Floating wind cannot compete with fixed on cost. But that is likely to change

Condition monitoring

35 A growing range of technology is being applied to monitor windfarms

Operations & maintenance

38 2020 will see three offshore windfarms test new O&M technology

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Offshore access/walk-to-work

40 Service operation vessels are moving to performance contracting

Project focus

42 Avangrid Renewables hopes to complete a US project ahead of schedule

Environmental focus

Front cover image: The cost of chartering service operation vessels has increased significantly and the market is moving in the direction of performance contracting (photo: Esvagt)

44 Environmental groups and Vineyard Wind are protecting marine mammals

Next issue

Main features include: Area reports: UK; South Korea; Poland; Operations and maintenance; Fixed/floating foundations; Turbine technology; Turbine manufacturing; Corrosion protection; Offshore grid connection; Insurance; Energy storage; Cable-lay/trenching; Project focus; Turbine maintenance & repair; Consultancy services; Crew transfer/SOV/installation/cable-lay vessels Subscribe online from just £199 www.owjonline.com

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Disclaimer: Although every effort has been made to ensure that the information in this publication is correct, the Author and Publisher accept no liability to any party for any inaccuracies that may occur. Any third party material included with the publication is supplied in good faith and the Publisher accepts no liability in respect of content. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, reprinted or stored in any electronic medium or transmitted in any form or by any means without prior written permission of the copyright owner.

Offshore Wind Journal | 1st Quarter 2019

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COMMENT | 3

Policy vacuum still hindering investment in Ireland

I David Foxwell, Editor

IF THE LICENSING AND CONSENTING PROCEDURES FOR OFFSHORE WIND WERE EFFICIENT AND STRAIGHTFORWARD, PERHAPS THESE POLICY CHANGES WOULD NOT BE AN ISSUE”

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n January 2019 Parkwind, which has been developing the Oriel offshore windfarm off the coast of Louth, and Irish energy company ESB announced they had entered into partnership for the project. It was also confirmed that plans are afoot to significantly expand the seven-turbine Arklow Bank offshore windfarm, Ireland’s first. So much for the good news. Unfortunately, as Cornwall Insight’s senior consultant Ireland Dr Evie Doherty highlighted recently, despite these welcome announcements, very little has changed in recent months in Ireland in terms of policy clarity from the government and potential offshore wind projects continue to be disadvantaged compared with other forms of renewables.

As highlighted numerous times by OWJ, offshore wind offers Ireland a route to increasing renewable generation in line with the climate ambitions, but for the sector to thrive and take hold, as in every market, policy mechanisms need to be aligned and send the right signals to the market.

The Oriel project along with SSE’s plan to expand Arklow Bank means that at least 1.3 GW of offshore wind could enter into operation in Ireland in the early 2020s. That’s significant, because it represents around 30% of Ireland’s Project 2040 ambitions to support up to 4.5 GW of new renewables by 2030, but without the right signals more offshore wind capacity is being held up. In order to attract investors, good policymaking and transparent requirements are needed to allow them to assess the viability of offshore wind projects.

Visibility on clear routes to market is required for assessing potential revenue sources and opportunities when creating long-term financial models. Clarity on timelines and rules are also important for assessing risks, costs and contingencies, the ability to win subsidies and gain grid connections.

There have been some changes in government policy, include awarding grid

connections and subsidies based on certain deliverables on the part of projects, including a focus on ensuring priority was given to projects that were ‘shovel ready’, and had planning permission. But offshore wind projects weren’t shovel ready and were not successful in the first Enduring Connections Policy (ECP-1) round, and little information has been released on the requirements and timing of ECP-2 or 3. What’s more, Dr Doherty explained, the high-level design paper for the new Renewable Energy Support Scheme (RESS) – which is due to be rolled out this year – specifically mentions using targeted delivery dates by which projects must be connected and energised in order to apply for support. The first auction has a proposed due date of 2020, which would not be feasible for offshore wind either. Cornwall Insight’s consultant said there is also a lack of clarity on the subsequent RESS auctions including timelines, eligibility criteria and using technology caps. “If the licensing and consenting procedures for offshore wind were efficient and straightforward, perhaps these policy changes would not be an issue, but as anyone in the industry can tell you, they are not,” Dr Doherty said. Then there’s the need for an offshore wind project to obtain a foreshore lease from the government.

Legislation has been proposed that will streamline this process but has yet to be passed by government and it doesn’t seem to be a priority. All in all, despite offshore wind’s ability to help Ireland meet climate targets, transition to clean energy and create jobs, developers still have little visibility of when a project could begin to generate revenue. This makes it difficult to plan projects and advance discussion on key issues such as costs that inform a bid into an auction.

As Dr Doherty concluded, “without clarity on timelines, eligibility and support, making investment decisions on offshore wind projects in Ireland is challenging.” OWJ

Offshore Wind Journal | 1st Quarter 2019

4 | AREA REPORT Taiwan

Taiwan steps back from the brink but hard bargaining required for subsequent projects Potentially disastrous changes in government policy on offshore wind in Taiwan have been averted, although developers involved in subsequent projects will also face tough challenges

I

n late January, the Taiwanese Government announced new tariffs for offshore wind projects including a higher tariff than originally proposed for 2019, along with structural changes to the tariffs.

The feed-in tariff (FIT) for 2019 has been set at NT$5,516/kWh (US$1,788) and a ladder tariff has been reintroduced. New caps on full-load hours have also been proposed. The cap on full-load hours has been increased to 4,200 hours and 4,500 hours. Between 4,200 and 4,499 hours the FIT will be cut by 25%; above 4,500 hours the FIT will be cut by 50%.

Responding to the announcement, Taiwan renewable energy veteran Raoul Kubitschek said of the changes, “I don’t think anyone will be ecstatic about the announcement, but it is something to work with and far better than the first proposal. It will

certainly also put price pressure on local newcomers to the offshore wind energy market, and on the government’s localisation strategy.”

Offshore Wind Consultants’ Taiwan project manager Howard Hu told OWJ, “After two months of intense debate, the new offshore wind FIT has been set, the ladder has been reintroduced and there is a new cap mechanism.

Given the cost of grid enforcement, local site condition and several other issues, the Ministry of Economic Affairs has had to increase the FIT and relax the rules. The announcement shows that the government was struggling to reach a balance between the needs of developers and concerns about costs.

“We believe most developers would consider NT$5,500/kWh the bottom line if they are to continue to invest in offshore wind projects in Taiwan. They will probably accept the results and carry

A massive expansion of offshore wind from the small scale of the Formosa 1 project (shown here) is on the cards in Taiwan

Offshore Wind Journal | 1st Quarter 2019

on with development work. However, the next fight could come between central government and local government.

Further negotiation with local governments and fisheries associations will be needed to obtain establishment permits and sign power purchase agreements based on the new FIT.” The Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) welcomed the announcement.

It said, “GWEC welcomes the move by the Taiwan Government’s feed-in tariff committee to revise proposed changes to FIT levels and structures that are critical to kickstarting Taiwan’s offshore wind sector and installing 5.5 GW of zero carbon generation capacity. GWEC particularly welcomes the reinstatement of the ladder tariff and the increase in the level of the cap on load hours, although it considers that any cap is unhelpful and unnecessary.

“Since announcing plans to change the FIT in October of last year, the voices of GWEC, developers and supply-chain partners have clearly been heard by the government. However, the wind industry must now assess whether the new rate and the revised cap on load hours are commercially viable for the supply chain and allow planned projects to go ahead.”

Speaking exclusively to OWJ shortly after the Taiwanese authorities announced new levels for tariffs and for the FITs for offshore wind projects in the country, GWEC chief executive Ben Backwell said the tariffs that the Taiwanese Government had announced indicated that there had

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Taiwan AREA REPORT | 5

Taiwanese company orders windfarm support vessels A marine and offshore operator has placed an order for crew transfer vessels for use in Taiwan’s burgeoning offshore wind energy industry. Hung Hua Construction (HHC) has ordered two of Damen’s FCS 2710 fast crew supply vessels. The contract was signed at the end of January and the vessels will be built at Damen Shipyards Singapore for delivery in early 2020. HHC is Taiwan’s

Hung Hua Construction in Taiwan has ordered two Damen FCS 2710 crew transfer vessels

been a welcome shift in policy by the Taiwanese Government. He said the changes will hopefully enable developers to press ahead with projects once they have renegotiated terms with their supply chains in Taiwan.

“The next challenge is to create an efficient local supply chain so projects can be built at viable cost, make sure the permitting process is managed efficiently and continue to build understanding of the many benefits of offshore wind for Taiwan’s economy and society,” Mr Backwell said.

Developers didn’t get everything they were asking for, but the reduction in the tariff for 2019 is much lower than had been mooted. Mr Backwell said changes to the structure of the tariff were also important.

“We argued that the cap should be removed altogether,” Mr Backwell said.

“It wasn’t, but it has been raised, which will be beneficial for capacity factors.”

The second structural change to the tariff would have seen the ladder tariff

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largest nearshore construction and dredging company and recently became involved in the offshore wind sector.

The twin-hulled FCS 2710 with its Damen trademark Axe Bow is 1 m longer than its predecessor, the FCS 2610.

It can carry twice as many personnel as well as offer more flexibility, more tank capacity, greater usable deck space, increased comfort and more accommodation. It can also operate in wave heights exceeding 2 m. The two vessels for HHC will have other small changes to meet the company’s specific demands as well as optimise them for local Taiwanese requirements and conditions.

Damen sales manager, Asia Pacific, Michiel Hendrikx said, “The FCS 2710 is proving to be very successful in the offshore wind market in Europe and we are sure that it will also perform well in Taiwanese waters, which can be quite harsh and rough. We are also confident that the market in Asia will have more demand for this type of vessel in the future and so we have decided to start series production of the FCS 2710 in Singapore with two more vessels to be ready for delivery in 2020.”

In the longer term, HHC is expected to acquire more CTVs and could expand its fleet up to eight vessels.

removed, closing off an effective way to help developers attract project finance at the most competitive possible costs.

“The change of heart about the ladder tariff is very helpful,” Mr Backwell told OWJ. “It will reduce developers’ financing costs.”

GWEC argued that, taken together, the proposed changes would have reduced project revenues by approximately 20% and made the projects non-investable, thwarting growth in the sector.

Mr Backwell said he could not speak for the companies involved in Taiwan but believes that they will be “cautiously optimistic” about the changes. “Taiwan has handled the process of starting an offshore wind industry very well, but it would have been a mistake to make big changes to tariffs at this point,” he said.

There was more good news from the country in late January when Ørsted, one of the companies involved there, confirmed that Taiwan’s Bureau of Energy had granted it an establishment

permit for the Changhua 1 and 2a projects, a milestone that the company described as a significant one.

In the coming weeks, Ørsted and the other companies hoping to build offshore windfarms in Taiwan will work with the Taiwanese authorities and local stakeholders to enable them to reach outstanding key project milestones, such as completing a supply-chain plan and signing a power purchase agreement. Ørsted said its board of directors will review the projects and decide on the final investment case once they have clarity on the outcome of contract renegotiations with its supply chain.

Assuming that the companies involved can renegotiate terms with their supply chains, the firms involved in the process were expected to be able to sign power purchase agreements (PPAs) after the Chinese New Year.

Originally, PPAs were due to be signed by 2 January 2019. Because Taiwan’s Bureau of Energy did not issue establishment permit for the

Offshore Wind Journal | 1st Quarter 2019

6 | AREA REPORT Taiwan

projects in time, it was no longer possible for Ørsted and the Taiwanese utility Taipower to sign a 2018 PPA for Changhua 1 and 2a.

If PPAs can now be signed, that would enable developers to take final investment decisions within months and get projects back on track. However, Mr Backwell cautioned that although the initial round of projects in Taiwan may be getting back on track, a lot of hard bargaining will need to take place regarding later projects that received awards in a competitive auction process that followed the country’s initial allocation of 3.84 GW of offshore wind.

The first allocation round in May 2018 was awarded on the basis of FITs, but the subsequent round was auction driven.

Responding to the tariff announcement, offshore wind supermajor Ørsted said it plans to work with its supply chain to mitigate what it described as “the adverse impacts” of the production cap and the reduced feed-in-tariff announced in Taiwan, “with the objective of making the projects investable.”

Maersk Training backs GWO facility Maersk Training has entered into a cooperation to establish a specialist programme in Taiwan.

It plans to establish a training programme in Taiwan within the Metal Industries Research and Development Centre (MRDC).

The new centre, which will come online in July 2020, will train technicians for the country’s expanding wind energy industry.

The collaboration with Maersk Training started immediately after the contract was signed with a dedicated team overseeing the establishment of the centre, its equipping, manning and course scheduling. The Danish company will ensure that the MIRDC attains the relevant GWO accreditation.

Offshore Wind Journal | 1st Quarter 2019

Henrik Poulsen: “once we have clarity on renegotiations and have achieved all key project milestones, Ørsted will decide on the final investment case”

Martin Neubert: “the company was very concerned about the suggested feed-in tariff level for 2019 and a newly proposed cap on annual full-load hours”

Ørsted Offshore chief executive Martin Neubert said “We take note of the 6% tariff reduction compared to the 2018 tariff as well as the introduction of a cap on annual full-load hours.

"The production cap has a material adverse impact by preventing an optimal and efficient use of the windfarm. In addition, it puts farshore projects at a disadvantage compared to near-shore projects, which remain unaffected by the cap. We will collaborate closely with the supply chain to mitigate the adverse impacts from the production cap and the reduced feed-in-tariff with the objective of making the projects investable.”

The company noted that projects in which it is potentially involved, Greater Changhua 1 and 2a, face what it described as “extraordinarily high costs related to creating a local supply chain at scale, reinforcing the onshore grid infrastructure and building, operating and maintaining offshore windfarms in challenging site and weather conditions.”

It said that it will work with the Taiwanese authorities and local stakeholders to meet project milestones, such as obtaining an establishment permit, completing the supply-chain plan and signing the

power purchase agreement.

The company’s board of directors will review and decide on the final investment case once it has clarity on the outcome of supply contract renegotiations and relevant project milestones being achieved in time to keep Changhua 1 and 2a on track for potential commissioning in 2021.

Announcing details of the company’s 2018 results, Ørsted chief executive and president Henrik Poulsen reiterated the company’s willingness to work with the Taiwanese authorities and local stakeholders to reach key outstanding project milestones for offshore wind in Taiwan.

“Once we have clarity on the outcome of supply contract renegotiations and have achieved all key project milestones, Ørsted’s board of directors will review and decide on the final investment case,” he said.

In a conference call about the company's results, Mr Poulsen said the company stood by its commitment to develop a supply chain in Taiwan.

“The Taiwanese Government needs green energy at a price it can afford and wants to drive economic growth through a local supply chain, but as a company we need a balance of risk and return that is acceptable to us.” OWJ

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8 | AREA REPORT US

Massachusetts deals highlight massive interest in US market The results of the auction for offshore wind leases off Massachusetts eclipsed the results of all seven offshore lease sales in the US so far, demonstrating the high level of interest in the US market

A

nnounced by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) at the end of 2018, the auction saw bids totalling US$405M submitted in what became a ground-breaking auction for offshore wind leases off the coast of Massachusetts. All three sums bid for the leases far exceeded the highest bids so far in the US offshore wind industry.

If fully developed, the lease areas could support approximately 4.1 GW of commercial wind generation.

Equinor Wind, Vineyard Wind and Mayflower Wind Energy secured the leases offshore Massachusetts.

Surprisingly, leading offshore wind developers including Ørsted, innogy and Northland Power were unsuccessful.

The auction consisted of 32 rounds before determining the provisional winners of Lease Area OCS-A 0520 (128,811 acres), OCS-A 0521 (127,388 acres), and OCS-A0522 (132,370 acres).

As leaseholders, Equinor Wind, Mayflower Wind Energy and Vineyard Wind are now eligible to participate in the next solicitation for offshore wind power that will be held by the state.

“To anyone who doubted that our ambitious vision for energy dominance would not include renewables, today we put that rumour to rest,” claimed outgoing US Secretary of Interior, Ryan Zinke, who resigned at the end of 2018. “With bold leadership, faster, streamlined environmental reviews and a lot of hard work with our states and fishermen, we’ve given the wind industry the confidence to think and bid big.”

Offshore Wind Journal | 1st Quarter 2019

BOEM acting director Dr Walter Cruickshank said, “This auction will further the administration’s comprehensive effort to secure the nation’s energy future. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts and members of the Massachusetts Renewable Energy Task Force have been great partners throughout this process. We look forward to working with them and the lessees as we move forward with next steps for developing offshore wind energy in a responsible manner.”

American Wind Energy Association director offshore wind Nancy Sopko said, “The intense competition we’ve seen in this offshore wind lease auction is completely unprecedented.

With strong support from Secretary Zinke, Massachusetts and other states, global businesses now recognise the

Liz Burdock: “we encourage the lease winners to work together with existing projects and take a regional approach”

potential of America’s world-class offshore wind resources.

“Today’s biggest winners are the American workers who will help build and operate these windfarms and the consumers who will soon have access to a new large-scale source of clean, reliable electricity.”

Business Network for Offshore Wind president and chief executive Liz Burdock said, “We congratulate Equinor Wind, Mayflower Wind Energy and Vineyard Wind for submitting the winning bids and thank all of the 19 companies who were eligible to bid on these leases, a new record for BOEM offshore wind auctions.

“We encourage the lease winners to work together and work closely with the existing Vineyard Wind, Bay State Wind and South Branch projects to take a regional approach to getting these windfarms constructed.”

National Ocean Industries Association (NOIA) president Randall Luthi said, “Until today, a US$405M offshore wind lease sale in the US was unheard of.

“In fact, today’s phenomenal sale results eclipse the results of all seven previous US offshore lease sales combined and demonstrate that not only has offshore wind arrived in the US, but it is clearly set to soar.”

However, Mr Luthi said more lease sales were required in order to promote investment in the US offshore wind industry and the service and supply chain it will depend on.

“NOIA continues to call on BOEM to develop an offshore wind leasing plan that schedules at least four 500 MW

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US AREA REPORT | 9

lease sales annually, with a target of an additional 20 GW of offshore wind by 2034,” Mr Luthi said.

“Today’s spectacular results suggest that goal could easily be met and even surpassed, but America could miss out on this incredible energy opportunity if BOEM fails to open more areas in a timely fashion.”

Before the lease sales, the highest grossing offshore wind lease sale was held in December 2016 for the lease area offshore New York that received a winning bid of over US$42M. After the latest auctions, BOEM has 15 active wind leases. The lease sales have generated more than US$473M in winning bids for nearly 2M acres in federal waters. Money received from offshore wind lease sales go to the United States Treasury.

Not long after the results of the Massachusetts lease auction was announced, the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities confirmed it had received bids from three developers in response to its solicitation for 1.1 GW of offshore wind. The solicitation was the largest single-state solicitation to date. Bids are understood to have been submitted by the due date of 28 December 2018 from Ørsted, Equinor and Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind, a joint venture between Shell and EDF Renewables North America.

Connecticut power purchase agreement

At about the same time it was also announced that an offshore windfarm acquired by Ørsted when it took over Deepwater Wind in 2018 is to provide power to the state of Connecticut.

Connecticut’s Department of Energy and Environmental Protection has selected Ørsted’s Revolution Wind project as the basis of a fixed-price power purchase agreement with the state’s power distribution companies.

The proposed deal is for 0.42 terawatt hours per year, equivalent to 100 MW of offshore wind capacity.

Subject to contract signing and Ørsted’s final investment decision, the offshore windfarm is expected to be constructed

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Randall Luthi: “more lease sales are needed in order to promote investment in the US offshore wind industry and supply chain”

in 2022 and commissioned in 2023.

With the 100 MW of capacity for Connecticut added, Revolution Wind has now secured 700 MW of offshore wind capacity, including previously awarded projects in Rhode Island and Connecticut, which Ørsted will build as one joint project, unlocking procurement, construction and operational synergies.

In addition, Ørsted will build the adjacent 130 MW South Fork project at the same time as Revolution Wind, enabling further synergies.

In January 2019, New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu wrote to Dr Cruickshank of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, requesting the establishment of an offshore wind task force for the state. The purpose of the task force will be to facilitate co-ordination and consultation among federal, state and local governments on renewable energy commercial leasing proposals in federal waters offshore of New Hampshire.

Compared with many east coast states such as Massachusetts, Virginia, Rhode Island, New Jersey, New York and Connecticut, New Hampshire has been slow to develop and implement a strategy for offshore wind energy.

According to the Offshore Wind Hub, New Hampshire’s offshore wind resource is estimated at 3.4 GW. Back in 2014, the state legislature assigned a committee to research the offshore wind energy potential off New Hampshire’s coast and make recommendations to the full legislature on how to proceed. OWJ

More lease sales needed to maintain healthy growth Amid all the excitement about the record-breaking Massachusetts auction for offshore wind leases it is important to remember the old adage about supply and demand.

The level of competition for leases drove the price up significantly, but so did the lack of supply. In fact, the dearth of upcoming lease sales in the US is in stark contrast to states’ huge appetite for offshore wind.

Part of the reason there was such a frenzied response is that the next lease auction is not due to take place until 2020, probably in the New York Bight.

That the prices secured for the Massachusetts leases were so

high is an encouraging sign and clearly demonstrates that the US market is going to expand quickly, but unless more leases are auctioned it could act as a brake on expansion. It could also affect the pace at which the supply chain in the US develops.

More lease sales are going to be required to promote investment and give the supply chain the runway it needs to take off.

There have been calls for BOEM to schedule at least four 500 MW lease sales annually, with a target of an additional 20 GW of offshore wind by 2034. Others have called for 2-3 GW a year.

Offshore Wind Journal | 1st Quarter 2019

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Scotland AREA REPORT | 11

Adjusted timeframe will give developers a better understanding of Scottish sites Scotland’s first leasing round for offshore wind projects will not now take place until July 2019, possibly later, a delay that may be helpful for developers who want to know more about the sites Marine Scotland has identified

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n November 2018, Crown Estate Scotland published an update on leasing design and potential timescales in which it indicated that the earliest timeline for it to be launched was in April 2019. However, in a statement issued on 29 January 2019, Crown Estate Scotland said the final timings for leasing will be linked to Marine Scotland’s preparation of a Sectoral Marine Plan (SMP) and it had decided it will not launch leasing prior to July 2019, even if information on the draft SMP has been published before then.

On the assumption that the first leasing round is launched in July 2019, it will allow six months for preparing applications.

Assuming the adopted SMP is available around nine months after that, the deadline for applications to Crown Estate Scotland would be January 2020. Crown Estate Scotland would then offer option agreements to successful applicants in April 2020, when clearing would also start. It would aim to offer option agreements through clearing in September 2020, and the earliest commencement of a second cycle of leasing would be July 2021.

“This is the earliest timeline for our leasing, with the actual timeline possibly being later,” Crown Estate Scotland said,

noting that it will give a further update on intended timings in April 2019, and as appropriate thereafter.

In the April 2019 update it will set out further information which may be helpful to those considering applying to ScotWind leasing, indicating the type and level of information it might expect in applications, and setting out further detail in any other areas where it can add clarity in advance of launching the leasing.

Pinsent Masons partner Alan Cook said he thought it likely that the timing of the first ScotWind leasing round will be linked to the publication by Marine Scotland of the SMP, so may yet be later than July. He noted that it has stated it will not begin the programme before July, “even if the information on the draft SMP has been published by then.

“The feeling is that this adjustment to the timescales is to allow more time for Marine Scotland to issue its SMP, or at the very least the consultation draft of it. Developers are keen to see the proposals for the SMP, which will be of critical importance to the success of the leasing round,” Mr Cook said.

Crown Estate Scotland manages public land, property and

In the medium to long term, floating wind could play a big part in Scottish leasing rounds

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Offshore Wind Journal | 1st Quarter 2019

12 | AREA REPORT Scotland

property rights on behalf of the Scottish ministers, including rights to offshore renewable energy out to 200 nautical miles.

Any money made from seabed leasing will be returned to the Scottish Government for public spending.

“Once the ScotWind leasing programme is up and running, developers will be invited to bid for potential sites located in areas identified by Marine Scotland in the draft SMP,” Mr Cook said.

“The Scottish Government is hoping that projects will be ready to deploy from the late 2020s onwards, based on a 10year development and construction cycle.”

The leasing process is similar to that run for offshore wind projects to date by Crown Estate England but the Scottish programme differs in a number of respects that might affect how it plays out as Round 4 projects in English waters also get underway.

Although the process of awarding a contract for difference (CfD) for an offshore windfarm in Scotland remains a UK-level process, Scottish control over leasing offshore wind sites should help position projects in the country for participation in CfD auctions from 2023 onwards. It will hopefully also have beneficial knock-on effects on the supply chain and the Scottish economy.

What is interesting about the areas so far identified for Scottish leases is that a number of them, if not all, are in deep water.

When Marine Scotland started consulting on its draft plan, Scottish Renewables was quick to point out that this risks concentrating Scotland’s future offshore wind potential on developing technology which is currently at a precommercial stage of development.

The Scottish Government has stated that the SMP for offshore wind will include areas for conventional and deepwater wind technology and that the plan will be technology neutral with technology preferences determined by the market, so it is expected that the plan will identify some shallow and deeper water sites.

However, as Scottish Renewables said at the time that consultation began, although floating offshore wind may provide a significant opportunity for Scotland – and the UK as a whole – in future, there continues to be a lack of clarity in Westminster regarding government policy and support mechanisms to develop projects. Clarity would be required if developers are to prepare a viable business case for floaters.

As highlighted above, another potential issue is that Crown Estate England is running a parallel leasing process in England and Wales, where, said Scottish Renewables, it appeared that commercial considerations had played a larger role in shaping the early search process than in Scotland.

Crown Estate England is expecting to lease a further raft of extensions and new sites in the same timescale as the Scottish leasing process.

Together, new projects and extensions there could release up to 10 GW of commercially attractive capacity in shallow water. What concerned Scottish Renewables is that

Offshore Wind Journal | 1st Quarter 2019

Alan Cook: “developers are keen to see the proposals for the SMP, which will be of critical importance to the success of the leasing round”

this could encourage the offshore wind industry to focus on shallower locations outside Scotland for the next round of development opportunities.

That being the case, it said, “it is critical that Crown Estate Scotland’s leasing process makes developing in Scotland attractive, and that it engages with the UK and Scottish Governments to ensure the necessary policy supporting floating offshore wind is developed in connection with the leasing process.”

Floating offshore wind has tremendous potential but there is a lot to do before commercialisation. Whether the upcoming UK Sector Deal for offshore wind includes support for floating wind is not clear.

Last but by no mean least, there is the supply chain.

Crown Estate Scotland has said it expects the leasing process to support the supply chain in the country. It said there is “huge appetite” for the leasing to succeed in bringing forward strong projects.

For the ScotWind process to bring significant supply chain benefits, Scottish projects need above all to be competitive. It is not clear yet whether the balance of shallow and deep water sites in the SMP might change, but with Wales also hoping to win more projects and develop its own supply chain, Scottish projects face stiff competition from other parts of the UK, not just from shallow water projects in England.

It has already been suggested that Crown Estate England’s Round 4 could attract a significant number of developers that are new to projects in the UK. That would increase competition for sites throughout the union. Scottish sites – including those in the second ScotWind leasing round in 2021, when more floating wind technology will hopefully have matured – might attract a new breed of developer with a focus on floaters.

Given the different water depths in the draft SMP and the seeming emphasis on floating wind, that would be beneficial for Scottish industry, which wants to take advantage of opportunities in floating wind in the longer term.

However, shallow water sites are surely more likely to be the focus of developers’ interest in ScotWind Round 1. OWJ

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14 | AREA REPORT Wales

Round 4 and extensions could provide opportunities for Welsh supply chain

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he report, Future Potential for Offshore Wind in Wales, produced by the Carbon Trust for the Welsh Government, delivers a series of recommendations to policymakers to capitalise on the clean growth potential of offshore windfarms.

Currently, 48% of Welsh energy consumption is supplied from renewable technology. The report estimates that an additional 2 GW of offshore wind power could be delivered by just 2-3 projects in Wales, contributing over two-thirds of Wales’ 70% renewable energy target by 2030 and putting Wales on course to achieve its carbon reduction goal of at least 80% by 2050.

Wales is a strategically important net exporter of power to the UK grid, generating more than double the electricity it consumes. Historically most of this energy generation has been based on fossil fuels. However, the combination of an ageing coal and gas fleet, and introducing ambitious decarbonisation targets, is opening opportunities for cost-competitive clean energy industries, like offshore wind.

Despite limited offshore wind activity in recent years, new seabed leasing and site extensions administered by The Crown Estate are set to open new opportunities for

Scaling up offshore wind generation and learning lessons from earlier projects could help Wales meet its renewable energy and decarbonisation targets and deliver local economic stimulus, says a new report

offshore wind development in Wales and add to existing capacity at the North Hoyle, Rhyl Flats and at Gwynty-Môr offshore windfarms.

Relatively shallow waters off North Wales, in particular, are expected to be attractive for near-term development, while deeper waters off Pembrokeshire hold considerable long-term potential for floating offshore wind technology.

In addition to achieving clean energy targets, offshore wind has the potential to deliver considerable investment and associated socio-economic benefits to Wales. Harnessing its natural resources could also leverage Wales’ rich maritime and industrial heritage to create opportunities for Welsh businesses, particularly for windfarm operation and

maintenance. With sufficient market volume, Wales could also attract major overseas suppliers to establish local manufacturing facilities, as exemplified by a recent investment decision from Prysmian to supply submarine cable cores from its facility in Wrexham.

The report outlines a series of key recommendations to government to improve the attractiveness of projects in Wales for inward investment.

This includes actively engaging with The Crown Estate and prospective developers to help secure new leases in Welsh waters, working with developers and the local supply chain to increase the level of Welsh content, and derisking the development process through participation in industry-wide initiatives to address consenting barriers.

Cabinet Secretary for Energy, Planning and Rural Affairs, Lesley Griffiths said, “We realise the potential of offshore wind to help Wales meet its decarbonisation targets and renewable energy targets.”

Carbon Trust manager Rhodri James said, “Having initially pioneered offshore wind development with the UK’s first commercial windfarm at North Hoyle in 2004, a limited project pipeline has constrained opportunities for Wales in recent years.

“However, upcoming site extensions

Wales could leverage existing assets to host research and development – sites such as Gwynt-y-Môr have already done so

Offshore Wind Journal | 1st Quarter 2019

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Wales AREA REPORT | 15

and seabed leasing will create new opportunities for Wales to harness its abundant offshore wind resource to deliver clean, renewable power to consumers. If projects can be secured, they could play a pivotal role in meeting Wales and the UK’s renewable energy and decarbonisation goals, as well as create economic benefits for local businesses and communities.”

Despite suffering from the lack of a project pipeline in recent years, site extensions and new leasing rounds administered by The Crown Estate will create opportunities for Wales to exploit its extensive offshore wind resource and attract new investment in Wales’ energy infrastructure.

The report identified a potential extension at Gwynt-y-Môr as a priority near-term opportunity for Wales and new leasing rounds in the UK of up to 7 GW which could open opportunities for new regions in Wales. North Wales and Anglesey have been shortlisted for proposed Round 4 leasing.

An area to the northeast of Anglesey, overlapping with the former 4.2 GW Celtic Array development zone, is expected to be attractive to offshore wind developers. A single project could add up to 1.5 GW of new capacity, lifting the total generation to 2.8 GW capacity, enough to meet 68% of Wales’ electricity consumption.

Combined with existing onshore renewable capacity, this would contribute 82% by 2030, putting Wales on course to exceed its renewable energy and decarbonisation goals and building a pipeline of projects to meet more demanding targets beyond 2030. In the longer term, floating wind represents a significant potential opportunity to meet Wales’ longer-term energy targets.

So how might Wales go about developing more offshore wind capacity? To start with, the Welsh Government needs to be proactive in ensuring the country is fully represented in discussions relating to offshore wind development in the UK, with government and industry bodies.

This should include cultivating market interest in development opportunities

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Failed projects highlight need to select most suitable sites Despite the success of the three operational projects in the Irish Sea, offshore wind development in Wales has also suffered setbacks, most notably through the cancellation of three projects, Scarweather Sands (2009); Atlantic Array; (2013); and Celtic Array (2014).

“These cancelled projects serve as important lessons to policymakers and industry players in identifying and selecting the most suitable sites for offshore wind development,” said the authors of the report.

“Future licensing rounds can

in Wales. Another way the authorities in Wales could help would be to publish clear guidance on the planning and consenting process for offshore wind projects.

The Welsh Government could also participate in and support collaborative initiatives to address common challenges, particularly research to inform siting and consenting decisions. An effective and direct means of supporting developers and Welsh companies would be to invest in and support supplychain development. Investing in infrastructure upgrades and providing greater support to SMEs would help to boost Welsh interest in the offshore wind sector, as would addressing consenting barriers and derisking project development in the country.

Given that mechanisms are already in place in the UK to support utilityscale projects, the Welsh Government could have greater impact by providing financial support for innovative technology that currently does not have a route to market, including floating offshore wind.

To date, the increase in UK content in offshore windfarms has been driven by activity outside Wales – not least because

benefit from considerable experience from nearly 8 GW of installed capacity and the availability of more advanced technology that can unlock new sites in Welsh waters.

“Nevertheless, understanding and selecting sites with favourable environmental conditions, access to sufficient grid transmission capacity, support from local stakeholder groups, and adopting a more flexible approach to site selection will be critical to ensuring the success of future development activities,” they concluded.

the lack of project development in Wales has constrained activity there – but there have been successes in some areas, most notably at the Port of Mostyn and in operations and maintenance contracts for local suppliers.

For the time being, Prysmian’s cable core facility in Wrexham is the only major Tier 1 supply facility in Wales, but that could change if the deployment level increases.

As the report noted, it could be difficult for Wales to attract suppliers of major components such as turbines, blades and foundations, but with greater scale opportunities undoubtedly exist in other areas, such as steel fabrication for foundations and towers.

If site extensions and new lease developments can be realised, this could unlock significant offshore wind construction in North Wales, the authors of the report noted, which would result in significant capacity requiring operations and maintenance services, a level of activity that could create significant opportunities for supplychain clusters around Welsh ports.

Above all, policy-makers need to develop a clear strategy for offshore wind development in Wales and be public in supporting future deployment. OWJ

Offshore Wind Journal | 1st Quarter 2019

ANALYSIS | 17

Siemens: hydrogen hybrids will help integrate wind Siemens’ senior vice president of energy and electronics, Professor Dr Armin Schnettler, believes that new ways of integrating renewable energy into the electricity system are required and that green hydrogen will become cost-competitive with grey

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ate 2019 saw three industry-leading companies – Shell, Siemens and TenneT – call for accelerated development of the production of green hydrogen using electricity from offshore wind. The companies asked the German Government to consider wind-hydrogen tenders. They believe that implementing a programme of tenders for offshore windfarms combined with power-to-gas would enable the country to accelerate the roll-out of renewable energy and achieve climate policy goals.

Hybrid power projects would enable more offshore wind to be built in German waters, without over-burdening the electricity grid on land, and help facilitate the energy transition, they argued.

The companies are proposing a new tendering model for offshore wind coupled with hydrogen production. In this way, they said, additional offshore wind capacity could be developed in a short period of time and power-to-gas technology could be developed to market maturity. The model they are proposing is based on a study by the consulting firm E-Bridge, which was commissioned by the three companies. According to E-Bridge, between 2026 and 2030 offshore windfarms with a capacity of up to 900 MW coupled

with hydrogen production could be built, but in the long term, said Professor Schnettler, the potential of green hydrogen produced from renewable energy is “almost limitless.”

Speaking exclusively to OWJ in early February 2019, he said green hydrogen – produced from water via electrolysis – is the most promising way to make the energy transition happen. If the cost of green hydrogen can be reduced to a level where it is competitive with grey hydrogen produced by reforming or ‘cracking’ natural gas “we could open up all kinds of industries and the mobility sector to green energy,” he said. “If we manage to drive down costs for green hydrogen as a feedstock there is practically no limit to how widely it could be used. It’s all about efficiency and environmental benefits on a huge scale.

“If we are to achieve climate change targets, we need to do more with renewable energy sources, mainly wind, PV and biomass,” Professor Schnettler said. But without a way to get more energy from wind into the system there will be a growing problem with curtailment or redispatch (when a transmission system operator asks generators to reduce the amount of electricity they dispatch to

The offshore windfarm of the future could produce hydrogen rather than electricity (photo: Vattenfall/Bel Air Aviation Denmark)

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Offshore Wind Journal | 1st Quarter 2019

18 | ANALYSIS

avoid or eliminate congestion).

“Apart from accelerating the introduction of renewable power and avoiding congestion, we need to think about new ways to manage the integration of renewables,” said Professor Schnettler. “Power-to-gas is a way of doing so and could provide a way to reduce grid congestion and enable sector coupling.”

But if power-to-gas and green hydrogen is to be made to work, advances need to be made in electrolyser technology, in order to reduce costs. “To master the energy transition and be able to do without fossil fuels we need to decouple the generation of renewable electricity from consumption,” said Professor Schnettler. “For me, proton electrolyte membrane hydrogen electrolysis is the key technology doing so.

As he explained, Siemens is working on a new generation of hydrogen electrolysers, as are other companies, and he believes that with a greater understanding of stability, degradation mechanisms and reliability, green hydrogen produced using them can become competitive with grey. In fact, the company has gone on record that green hydrogen could be cost-competitive with grey in five years.

Siemens has hydrogen electrolysers in the MW class and is building 10 MW class units using its next-generation ‘Silyzer’ technology. “We have a lot of expertise and know-how gained over many years of operation, but we need to continuously optimise our design and the materials used in it in order to develop large-scale hydrogen systems in the 100-MW class and in the 1-GW class.”

Professor Schnettler said. He believes that a 100-MW hydrogen electrolyser is possible by 2025 and a 1GW unit by 2030.

Asked about the extra costs associated with wind-hydrogen tenders, Professor Schnettler said it is more important to understand what we need to enable more renewable energy to be introduced into the system. “It’s not about extra costs – it’s about new, smarter ways to manage system integration,” he told OWJ. “The combination of more offshore wind, storage and power-togas technology provides a lot of potential synergies. These synergies are the basis of what we proposed with Shell and TenneT. In the long term we envisage huge offshore windfarms and artificial islands with electrolyser platforms. It’s about technology and total cost of

Prof Armin Schnettler: “green hydrogen could open up all kinds of industries and the mobility sector to green energy”

Offshore Wind Journal | 1st Quarter 2019

Not cost-competitive – yet E-Bridge principal consultant Vigen Nikogosian told OWJ that its analysis of wind-hydrogen tenders indicates that it costs 50% more to produce green hydrogen via electrolysis than it does to produce hydrogen by cracking natural gas. But he expects that to change.

“At the moment, there isn’t any incentive to produce hydrogen from offshore windfarms if they have a grid connection,” he told OWJ, “but where you have wind but no grid connection a different model might one day play an important role. Hence the interest in the new kind of tender.”

Dr Nikogosian said the cost of grey hydrogen depends to a large extent on the price of natural gas and might be influenced by a carbon price floor of the type that has been proposed in the EU, given that CO2 is a by-product of cracking methane to produce hydrogen. “Roll-out of electrolysis on a larger scale would provide the kind of economies of scale that could really make a difference,” he said.

ownership. Everything is too expensive initially,” he said, as offshore wind was once deemed to be, but economies of scale and cost reduction will come with greater volumes.”

Questioned about the economic model for wind-hydrogen tenders and how they compare with pure wind tenders, Professor Schnettler said “it’s not about the economic model or how much more expensive wind-hydrogen tenders might be, it’s about how to integrate more renewables into the existing grid and how to increase the reliability of supply from renewable energy while enabling sector coupling by producing hydrogen and feeding it into the gas grid or hydrogen pipelines.”

Professor Schnettler told OWJ, “There is a growing market for green hydrogen even with a price tag that is above that of grey hydrogen. However, if an off-taker does not value green hydrogen, then the price for grey hydrogen is the benchmark.”

Professor Schnettler said that there are few regulatory issues that would get in the way of the more widespread production and use of green hydrogen, but said that, to bridge the gap between the current electrolyser capacity and the large, industrial-scale industrial electrolysers that would be required, pilot projects are needed to share technical and commercial risks.

With this need in mind, Germany’s Ministry for Economic Affairs has initiated the so-called ‘Reallabor-Initiative’ (real world ‘laboratories’ for industrial-sized pilot projects). “We are in discussions with the government about how to implement this kind of project,” Professor Schnettler concluded, noting that for Germany, integrating electrolysers into the asset base of grid operators would have several potential advantages. “This is under discussion as well,” he concluded, as are discussions about windhydrogen hybrid tenders. OWJ

www.owjonline.com

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20 | INTERVIEW

First federal project, California, lease sales and grid issues on business network’s radar The Business Network for Offshore Wind has played an important role connecting industry, developers, legislators at state and federal level and the regulatory authorities in the fastgrowing offshore wind industry in the US

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ot long ago, the only offshore windfarm in the US was Block Island, off the coast of Rhode Island, a small project dwarfed by the size of projects in Europe. Fast-forward to early 2019, and the US is on the verge of replicating European-scale offshore wind, potentially one day exceeding it. There is already a pipeline of offshore wind capacity of 5-8 GW on the east coast due to be installed by 2025, and a pipeline of in excess of 19 GW by 2030.

Construction of the first commercial-

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scale project in the US, Vineyard Wind, is expected to get underway by the end of 2019/early 2020 and projects and potential projects range up and down the east coast of the US, but the Business Network for Offshore Wind’s work is far from done. In fact it is growing all the time as the industry in the US develops, as other states recognise the potential of offshore wind, as the offshore wind supply chain in America begins to develop and as grid connection and transmission systems for electricity produced offshore come into focus.

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Speaking to OWJ at the 2019 Offshore Wind Journal Conference – where he provided delegates with an update on the US market – Business Network for Offshore Wind executive vice president Ross Tyler said the network is focusing on a number of key areas in 2019. These include the need for more lease sales in US waters, the potential for offshore wind in California, and the important role that a 12 MW offshore wind energy demonstrator off the coast of Virginia Beach will play as offshore wind transitions into federal waters. Now that

REVOLUTION WIND FARM (ØRSTED) [600MW] VINEYARD WIND [800MW] EQUINOR MAYFLOWER (EDPR/SHELL) VINEYARD WIND BAY STATE WIND (ØRSTED) S O U T H F O R K W I N D F A R M ( Ø R S T E D ) [90- 130M W] B L O C K I SLAND WIND FARM (ØRSTED) [30MW] 1 FAIRWAYS NORTH 3.HUDSON NORTH 2 FAIRWAYS SOUTH 4.HUDSON SOUTH

EMPIRE WIND (EQUINOR) ATLANTIC SHORES (EDF/SHELL) O C E A N WIND (ØRSTED) GARDEN STATE O F F S H O R E E N E R G Y (ØRSTED) S K I P J A C K W I N D F A R M ( Ø R S T E D ) [120MW] U S W I N D (MD) [ 2 4 8 M W ]

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BUSINESS NETWORK FOR OFFSHORE WIND

U.S. OFFSHORE WIND MARKET

The US offshore wind market has taken off along the country’s northeast coast but there is plenty of potential elsewhere

Offshore Wind Journal | 1st Quarter 2019

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INTERVIEW | 21

Ross Tyler: “BOEM is aware that it needs to bring forward new lease auctions in order to support the supply chain”

commercial-scale projects are beginning to be developed, grid connection has also become an important issue.

Commercial-scale projects may now be getting underway, but Mr Tyler said a small-scale offshore wind project consisting of just two turbines will be important to the industry as it is the first in federal waters. In terms of capacity, it is insignificant, but Mr Tyler said the project, led by Dominion Energy Virginia and developer Ørsted, has an importance that far exceeds its size.

“From a capacity perspective we’re talking about two 6-MW turbines, but the importance of the project is that these will be the first turbines installed in US federal waters rather than state waters.

Installing the demonstrator means that all of the federal agencies are going to have to work closely together to enable the permits to be issued.

“So, although the project is a small one in terms of capacity, it’s a very important one because the work that needs to be done will pave the way for future, utility-scale projects. Because it’s a federal project the work that is going to be done will be applicable to all of the waters around the US.” As highlighted on a number of occasions by OWJ, although the primary

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focus of offshore wind development in the US to date has been on bottom-fixed arrays off the northeast coast of the country, California has some of the best offshore wind capacity in the world, and developing a floating offshore wind industry in the state could dramatically increase in-state renewable energy generation and support thousands of jobs. In 2018, policymakers set California on a path to 100% clean energy by 2045, creating a need for leadership to develop more renewable energy generation options. The Network is keen to ensure that offshore wind will play a major role there but is aware that the Golden State already has significant onshore wind and solar capacity.

“Senate Bill 100 called for California to have 100% renewable energy by 2045, with an interim goal of 50% by 2025,” Mr Tyler told OWJ. “There is such a lot of potential, such a lot of capacity right along the coast of the state, it’s really important that legislators there understand how much offshore wind can do. California also has ambitious goals for electric vehicles, and we can expect a lot of growth in demand for electricity for electric vehicles, maybe even hydrogenpowered vehicles using hydrogen from renewable sources, so offshore wind can be a huge, significant part of that.”

As Mr Tyler explained, the network is placing a lot of emphasis on California currently, and has embarked a two-year campaign to highlight the advantages of offshore wind in the state. It recently held meetings in Sacramento and San Diego and is meeting with legislators in the state to highlight its potential to them.

As also highlighted by OWJ, the results of a recent auction for offshore wind leases offshore Massachusetts eclipsed the results of all seven offshore lease sales in the US so far, demonstrating the high level of interest in the US market, but more lease sales are required in order to promote investment in the US and provide longterm opportunities for the supply chain the industry will depend on.

Alongside other organisations, the network is in a dialogue with the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) to

ensure that an offshore wind leasing plan is developed that enables the industry to expand steadily and provides sufficient opportunity for an offshore wind supply chain to be created. "We know that BOEM does have more lease sales on its radar,” Mr Tyler told OWJ. “They are working to find new areas in the northeast, maybe a little further offshore than recent leases. BOEM knows it needs to bring new lease areas forward, and that what is being referred to as the ‘second round’ of offshore wind leasing is essential so that we don’t have a boom and bust situation where work gets underway on the first round of projects but there isn’t sufficient capacity coming through to support the development of the supply chain in a timely manner. It takes time to develop new areas. BOEM needs to minimise the potential for conflict with other users of the ocean, but that work needs to start right away.”

The process of integrating a growing amount of offshore wind into the grid in the US and ensuring the stability of the grid with more and more offshore wind in it is also on the network’s radar. This could be a challenging process, Mr Tyler believes. “There are really two schools of thought about this at the moment,” he explained.

“The first is that developers should have right and responsibility for grid connection. Some developers have already said they would like that.

The other school of thought is that it might be preferable for a third party to take the risk. If developers take responsibility for grid connection and do it themselves, we might end up with multiple, overlapping export cables in some areas, so a lot of work needs to be done on grid expansion, interconnection options, technology and delivery systems,” Mr Tyler said.

The network believes there is a lot of work to be done on the offshore transmission system as a whole with respect to reliability and grid architecture options and on understanding the regional impact offshore wind will have on the existing onshore grid. OWJ

Offshore Wind Journal | 1st Quarter 2019

22 | EMERGING MARKETS

Islands emerge as potential offshore wind niche Offshore wind’s future almost certainly lies in large, gigawatt-scale projects but niche markets are emerging, among them supplying power to island communities that depend on costly imports

Equinor’s highly successful Hywind floating wind project could provide a blueprint for islands to develop green power

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or islands, particularly populous ones, energy costs are significant because the raw materials invariably have to be imported. Imports can all too easily be interrupted and if based on oil, can fluctuate in price significantly.

But islands also face other issues: the Paris Agreement acknowledges they are particularly vulnerable to climate change, in addition to being very dependent on fossil fuels and energy imports.

Many of Europe’s 2,400 islands are small and somewhat isolated as energy markets. However, it is suggested, these islands – where 15M Europeans live – have the potential to be frontrunners in the clean energy transition by adopting new technology and implementing innovative solutions.

Recognising this, the European Commission is acting to develop and

Offshore Wind Journal | 1st Quarter 2019

support the clean energy potential of European island communities from Åland to the Azores. It would like to enable island communities to reduce their dependence on imported oil, reduce the cost of generating electricity, eliminate fossil fuel subsidies and focus on energy efficiency and renewables, making the best possible use of available technology.

In 2017, the Commission, together with 14 member states, signed a ‘Political Declaration on Clean Energy For EU Islands’ and shortly afterwards launched the Clean Energy for EU Islands Initiative, at an inaugural forum in Chania, Crete.

In support of the initiative, the Commission in co-operation with the European Parliament set up the Secretariat for the Clean Energy for EU Islands Initiative which has been operational since June 2018. It acts as

a platform of exchange of practice for islands’ stakeholders and provides dedicated capacity building and advisory services.

Speaking at the Second Clean Energy for Islands Forum in Lanzarote in the Canary Islands in Spain, representatives of organisations involved in renewable energy described its potential for islands, among them Equinor business development project manager Anne Marit Glette Hansen, who discussed the role Equinor believes floating offshore wind could have providing islands with green power.

Ms Hansen said islands could provide ‘competitive markets’ for floating wind by 2025 and highlighted that the Canary Islands have expressed serious interest in offshore wind.

“Equinor see this as an interesting opportunity for floating wind development,” she said.

She also highlighted that of Europe’s offshore wind resource, 50-60% is said to be in deep water that would preclude using bottom-fixed foundations. “Islands have a strong need for energy and in particular for renewable energy,” she told delegates. “Floating wind is ready to be deployed on islands now.”

Ms Hansen noted that because the cost of conventional energy on islands is high, floating wind – which is currently more expensive than bottom-fixed offshore wind because it has yet to be commercialised on a large scale – “was already competitive.”

Floating wind also has other synergies for islands, she told the forum, such as job creation. “We have undertaken a project with University

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EMERGING MARKETS | 23

of Las Palmas Gran Canaria that clearly shows that offshore wind there would create significant long-term employment,” she said.

Equinor’s business development project manager also highlighted that the Hywind project built by Equinor off the coast of Scotland had been extremely successful, with particularly high capacity factors.

The US also has a number of island communities in the form of territories such as Puerto Rico and Guam, and efforts are underway to amend the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OSCLA) to enable them to build offshore windfarms to meet their need for energy.

Legislation that could bring that about was reintroduced in February 2019 by Puerto Rico Resident Commissioner Jenniffer González Colón. It was first introduced by Congresswoman Madeleine Bordallo, who represented Guam. In August 2018 Mrs Bordallo lost her bid for renomination for another term as delegate in the Democratic primary.

Responding to the reintroduction of the act, National Ocean Industries Association president Randall Luthi said of HR 1014, the Offshore Winds for Territories Act, “NOIA applauds Representative González Colón’s reintroduction of the Offshore Wind for Territories Act. This bill enables US territories such as Puerto Rico and Guam to develop their rich wind resources and power new jobs and economic growth for their residents.

“There is a longstanding need to strengthen the energy security of the US territories and the bipartisan support from House Natural Resources leadership shows that this bill can be the path forward to a stronger energy future for our territories.”

When first introduced in 2018, the House Committee on Natural Resources unanimously passed the bill, which will amend federal law to authorise offshore wind energy development in the exclusive economic zone adjacent to all five US territories.

Currently, federal law precludes the

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Jenniffer González Colón wants US territories such as Puerto Rico and Guam to be able to develop their rich wind resources

US Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management from permitting offshore windfarms in federal waters off the coasts of American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Island, Puerto Rico or the US Virgin Islands.

According to NOIA, including US territories in the federal leasing programme is “long overdue.” If they were included in future leasing programmes, territories such as Puerto Rico and Guam would be able to strengthen their energy security through developing local energy resources, while providing jobs and economic growth for their residents.

In a 2018 letter to the Committee on Natural Resources and Committee of Armed Services, NOIA noted that Congress had previously considered, but failed to enact, legislation to expand the OCSLA to include the Exclusive Economic Zone offshore the territories of the US. It said this change was supported by the Bush, Obama, and now Trump administrations.

“We encourage you to take this action as part of the 2019 National Defense Authorization Act. By doing so, Congress would provide a statutory structure for the management of the renewable and traditional energy and mineral resources that are not currently

covered by existing law,” NOIA said.

“Clarifying the Secretary of the Interior’s authority and responsibility under OCSLA will provide the support and opportunity for a comprehensive process for planning and developing any conventional energy, renewable energy and mineral resources in coordination with the territories.”

NOIA said America’s offshore energy industries “are ready to increase their contribution to national security,” and highlighted that offshore wind could provide significant investment and alternative energy security to American bases in Guam, American Samoa or Puerto Rico.

The bill aimed to guarantee each US territory a state-equivalent share of any federal royalties collected for offshore wind or similar development in federal waters off their coasts, estimated by the Congressional Budget Office at some US$20M, and dedicate a portion of federal royalties for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Coral Reef Conservation Programme, providing dedicated federal funding for coral reef conservation, research, and projects in US territories and nationwide, at no additional cost to American taxpayers.

The bill would also have enabled BOEM to complete a study on the technological and economic feasibility of offshore wind energy development in all of the territories, in consultation with the US Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory and mandate federal consultation with territorial Governors prior to any offshore wind lease sales in federal waters adjacent, regarding suitability of windfarm sites. In February 2019, Commissioner González Colón issued a statement in which she said there was “consensus on the need to modernise Puerto Rico’s power infrastructure” with renewables. Today, only 2% of the island’s energy comes from renewable sources. She wants to see the Department of Interior conduct feasibility studies for offshore wind lease sales for all of the territories and, where it is viable, conduct a lease sale. OWJ

Offshore Wind Journal | 1st Quarter 2019

24 | FINANCE

Falling costs mean long-term targets should remain within reach Disappointment about the seemingly small sum allocated to the UK’s next contract for difference for offshore wind has been tempered by analysis of how much capacity £60M might actually buy as costs continue to fall

If the cost of offshore wind energy continues to fall, analysts argue, long-term capacity targets could still be met, despite the small sum allocated to the upcoming CfD

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n late 2018, UK energy minister Claire Perry announced that £60M (US$77M) would be made available for the next competitive auction for a contract for difference (CfD) for renewable energy in the UK, an auction that is widely perceived as an ‘offshore wind round.’

That was lower than anticipated by many in the wind energy sector given the overall level of funding announced earlier this year by the government for future CfD auctions and caused questions to be asked about how much capacity that might buy.

Offshore Wind Journal | 1st Quarter 2019

Responding to some of the criticism levelled at the sum allocated to the auction, a Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) spokesperson said, “the fall in the cost of renewable electricity means that we should be able to secure more generation than the last auction at a lower cost for consumers.”

Speaking to OWJ about the sum allocated to the next contract for difference auction in May 2019, Cornwall Insight senior consultant Tom Edwards said, “BEIS has been looking at other European auctions,

that have cleared €40/50 (US$46-57) per megawatt hour (MWh) and believes there is still more cost reduction that can be achieved in the UK. “BEIS believes that by rationing the amount made available for the auctions, it can secure bids that are as competitive as possible. It has updated its administered strike prices (ASPs, the caps on strike prices bids by technology) and looked at what it expects the wholesale price to be in the future. The £557M is still there but the thinking is that prices in the UK can come down further and that parties bidding in the auction will be prepared to bid lower.

“We think that if there is sufficient appetite £60M could buy anything between 1.9 GW and 3.2 GW of new offshore wind at £56/MWh and £53/ MWh, the ASPceiling for offshore wind in these auctions. BEIS believes up to 4 GW can be bought assuming parties bid even lower than the ceiling.

A lot will depend on the level of competition. Had more money been made available for the auction in May 2019, a lot more capacity could have been awarded but perhaps not at such a competitive price.”

Concern has been expressed about whether some projects will be able to compete, given the unexpectedly small pot of money made available for the May auction.

Mr Edwards noted that there are a relatively large volume of potential projects looking for a CfD, as there are 7.9 GW of consented projects which could bid into the auctions.

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FINANCE | 25

However, he argued, a potential problem with the strategy BEIS has adopted might arise if prices have to increase again, for projects in deeper water or with higher transmission costs.

Then there are potential issues such as the exchange rate and the effect that might have on the cost of projects in the UK. “If the BEIS strategy works, then it will be good news for consumers. The risk is that parties can’t compete at the price levels that have been outlined,” Mr Edwards said.

The ASPs for the May 2019 auction were set at £56 per megawatt-hour for delivery years 2023-24 and £53/MWh for 2024-25. They might be expected to fall further for subsequent delivery years. BEIS takes the view that as costs fall it should be able to secure more generation than in the last auction at a lower cost for consumers.

“Despite these concerns, I think that 30 GW by 2030 is still do-able,” Mr Edwards concluded. “There are a lot of projects out there that are looking for contracts. That’s what BEIS is relying on.”

Bloomberg New Energy Finance senior associate offshore wind Tom Harries took a more sanguine view of the small amount of money BEIS has made available.

“High power price assumptions offset any concerns about a low budget. CfD design is as much about budget impact as it is about budget size,” Mr Harries said.

“And if the 6 GW cap on the capacity that can be awarded in the auction is met, that could be more offshore wind than the previous rounds combined. The government pays the difference between the market price and the bid price. A higher power price forecast means less of a top-up is required and there is more budget to go around.”

Commenting on the minister’s announcement, Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult head of insights Gavin Smart highlighted that in the September 2017 Allocation Round 2 (AR2), CfDs were awarded at £57.50/MWh – a record low price for the UK. This

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allowed 3.2 GW of offshore wind to be allocated for a total annual budget draw of roughly £176M. “Should we be surprised that the offshore wind price ceiling has been set at £56/MWh for 2023/24 and £53/ MWh for 2024/25?” Mr Smart said.

“In short, no. The equivalent ceilings in AR2 were £105/MWh and £100/MWh so this is a significant drop. However, given that successful bids in AR2 cleared at £57.50/MWh, it was always reasonable to think that government expectations for future rounds would be set around this level.

To set a higher ceiling may well have been questionable.

Should we be surprised that only £60M – that is not much more than 10% of the total £557M – has been made available?

“That depends on whether we expected bids from technologies other than offshore wind to be encouraged,” he explained.

“Given the low price ceilings for offshore wind – and the fact that these are only £4.65 and £1.65 higher than the relevant reference price used for estimating affordable capacity – it is possible to achieve 2 GW of offshore wind in each delivery year within the £60M budget. This is in line with what the industry has been asking for, so it

Claire Perry announced that £60M would be made available for the next CfD auction out of a total of £557M

appears tailor-made for offshore wind.

Were there any surprises?

“For me, yes,” said Mr Smart.

“The reference prices published for estimating budget affordability are in line with the reference prices used in AR2.

"Many of us had expected that using something approaching a capture price for intermittent technologies would result in a lower reference price, and therefore make each MWh more expensive to support.

This is a key factor in estimating what is affordable for £60M.” In broad terms, he believes, £60M allows for 4 GW of offshore wind.

There is around 8 GW of offshore wind eligible to bid in the auction, of which around 6 GW is expected to bid.

Strike price ceilings for offshore wind are the lowest in Pot 2. Even without further analysis, this suggests a couple of things.

“Firstly,” said Mr Smart, “the full budget will be utilised by offshore wind – 4 GW at the price ceilings or up to 6 GW at even more competitive price points – which would bring the 6-GW capacity cap into play.

“Secondly, the Offshore Wind Sector Deal is aiming for 30 GW by 2030, which would require a further 12 GW on top of the 14 GW already contracted and around 4 GW to come from the May 2019 auction. Even if offshore wind strike prices remain at the £53 level required for 2024/25 and reference prices in future auctions do not increase, this further 12 GW should cost, at the most, £180M (3 x £60M).

“If the trend of offshore wind cost and strike price reduction continues, and future reference prices continue to increase, this 12 GW would cost much less than £180M.” More recently, it has been suggested that the CfD auction, now due to take place in Q2 2019, could result in offshore wind that costs the government just £2/MWh (US$2.6).

Depending on how wholesale electricity prices evolve, it could even result in projects returning funds to the government. OWJ

Offshore Wind Journal | 1st Quarter 2019

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TURBINES | 27

Siemens Gamesa joins 10 MW+ club as GE makes plans to test Haliade-X prototype Hard on the heels of MHI Vestas Offshore Wind’s announcement of a 10 MW offshore wind turbine, Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy has unveiled a 10 MW+ unit with 30% greater annual energy production than its predecessor

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iemens Gamesa’s SG 10.0-193 DD offshore wind turbine will have a 193 m diameter rotor that uses the company’s proven direct drive technology to reduce time-to-market. This is the technology already used in its predecessor, the SG 8.0-167 DD. The 94-m blades provide a swept area of 29,300 m².

The company said the 10 MW machine will be market-ready in 2022 following erection of a prototype later in 2019.

Intended to provide maximum energy yield at all wind speeds, the company said the SG 10.0-193 DD “will offer the same reliability while improving profitability and reducing risk for customers.”

Siemens Gamesa chief executive Markus Tacke said the SG 10.0-193 DD combines experience and knowledge from five generations of proven direct drive technology and combines “strong performance, swift time-to-market, and low risk.”

The 10 MW rating is made possible through a larger generator, building on the proven direct drive generator technology. The platform allows for most components from previous offshore wind turbines developed by Siemens Gamesa to be re-used.

Siemens Gamesa offshore chief executive Andreas Nauen said utilising proven components and concepts “provides us with a strong, established value chain, with clear processes and skilled employees ready to go, leveraging a fully developed and industrialised supply chain.”

The nacelles of the new turbine will initially be manufactured at the company’s factory in Cuxhaven, Germany.

“The levelised cost of energy from offshore wind continues to fall as industry scale and performance grow,” said Mr Nauen. “New markets are developing across the globe, all of which require cost-efficient, reliable and clean power. The SG 10.0-193 DD enables us to meet these needs.”

In the longer term, Siemens Gamesa is believed to be working on a larger, more powerful next-generation turbine.

The SG 10.0-193 DD was unveiled following MHI Vestas’ launch of its 10 MW offshore turbine at Wind Energy Hamburg in 2018, the V164-10.0 MW, which is available for

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Siemens Gamesa’s 10 MW turbine will be market-ready in 2022

sale now with deliveries from 2021.

In the ReaLCoE project Senvion and partners are developing a turbine that could ultimately be capable of 14-16 MW (a turbine originally touted as a ‘10 MW+’ unit).

GE Renewable Energy is developing the 12 MW Haliade-X, which will have a rotor diameter of 220 m, 107 m blades and is to install the prototype of the turbine at a site in the Port of Rotterdam.

The company has concluded an agreement with Future Wind (a joint venture between Pondera Development and SIF Holding Netherlands) to install the Haliade-X prototype in the Maasvlakte-Rotterdam area mid-2019. The deal includes five years of testing and a 15-year full-service operation and maintenance agreement.

The Haliade-X 12-MW prototype will be installed onshore to facilitate access for testing. During the initial period of operations, it will allow GE Renewable Energy to collect the data needed to obtain a type certificate, a key step in commercialising the product in 2021.

GE Renewable Energy vice president and chief executive John Lavelle said, “As we rapidly progress on assembling the Haliade-X prototype, this announcement is a critical step forward for GE and our customers. The Port of Rotterdam provides all the necessary conditions to test the Haliade-X in the most drastic weather conditions.”

Sif Holdings Netherlands will install the Haliade-X 12 MW at the Sif site in Rotterdam and activity to prepare the site for installation has begun. The nacelle of the Haliade-X 12 MW prototype will be assembled in Saint-Nazaire in France. Three 107 m LM Wind Power blades will be manufactured in Cherbourg, France, and the tower sections will be produced in Seville in Spain. All of the components will be shipped to Rotterdam, where pre-assembly work and installation will take place. The prototype in Rotterdam is part of a US$400M investment in developing the Haliade-X announced by GE Renewable Energy in March 2018. OWJ

Offshore Wind Journal | 1st Quarter 2019

28 | VESSELS

Ability to submerge will give installation ship an edge over jack-ups A shipowner used to the operation of semi-submersible vessels and a naval architect experienced in the design of heavy-lift ships have come together to build a revolutionary new design that they believe will outperform existing offshore wind installation vessels

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o-date, jack-up vessels have predominated in the offshore wind installation vessel market, but a new ship being built for Offshore Heavy Transport (OHT) could see that change. When weather conditions dictate, the ship in question can submerge, and will be able to continue working, installing next generation, ultra-large jacket foundations and monopiles in conditions that would defeat a conventional design.

As Ulstein Design & Solutions project manager and lead naval architect for OHT’s Alfa Lift project Dolf Manschot told the 2019 Offshore Wind Journal Conference in London in February, jack-ups have proved to be suitable for foundation and turbine installation and are workable in high sea states but are relatively slow because they need to jack up and down at each location at which they install a turbine or foundation.

“Jacking up and down offshore and in port is time consuming,” said Mr Manschot, “and the jacking process is sensitive to seabed conditions. Jack-ups also have a limited payload capacity. Compared with jack-ups, floating installation vessels are primarily suitable for foundation installation, but they are sensitive to higher sea states.”

But compared with a jack-up and a floating vessel, an

An artist’s impression of OHT’s semi-submersible installation vessel installing monopile foundations

Offshore Wind Journal | 1st Quarter 2019

installation vessel that can submerge like a semi-submersible heavy lift ship of the type that OHT is used to operating has a number of important advantages: being able to submerge reduces motions, increasing workability in installation mode.

Submerging also provides the vessel with a secondary role as a heavy transport vessel capable of transporting heavy modules, jack-ups and other cargoes.

“The key to the concept is the fact that a submersible vessel has better motion characteristics when submerged than a typical monohull vessel” Mr Manschot said. “What is more, when the vessel is submerged the cargo doesn’t have to pass through the splash zone during lifting operations, which has a positive influence on the crane dynamics.”

He explained that the dynamically-positioned, 48,000dwt vessel has a 3,000-tonne lifting capacity main crane from Liebherr that matches the future requirements of the offshore wind industry, allowing the OHT Alfa Lift vessel to transport and install up to ten 1,500-tonne ultra-large jacket foundations or eleven 2,000-tonne XXL monopiles, plus transition pieces for next-generation wind turbines.

It is designed to install components such as these, without submerging, in significant wave heights of up to 2.0 m (Hs 2.0 m). If conditions become more challenging, the vessel can submerge and continue to work in Hs 2.5 m.

“Having submerged, the Alfa Lift vessel remains in that state until all foundation installation work is finished, remaining submerged and moving in DP mode to the next foundation,” Mr Manschot explained. “The vessel only comes back to the surface if the weather picks up significantly, or if operations have been completed and a new batch of foundations needs to be loaded in port.

You gain a lot of time whilst also getting a very stable platform,” he said.

The new vessel has a length overall of 216.3 m and beam of 56 m. It has a submerged draft of 25.6 m and a service speed of 13 knots.

The DNV GL-classed dynamic positioning class 2 vessel will have a deck strength of 30 tonnes/m2 and accommodation for 100 people. The first vessel is being constructed by China Merchant Heavy Industry in China and will be available for construction and installation activities from early 2021. OWJ

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VESSELS | 29

Marine supporter responds to evolving walk-to-work market Acta Marine’s latest newbuild combines stepless transfer for offshore personnel with a ‘smart hotel’ experience for those living on board the vessel

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s the walk-to-work market evolves, so vessel owners are responding with new designs and new ways of working, among them Acta Marine Wind Services, whose latest newbuild Acta Centuarus is due to be delivered in Q2 2019.

The hull of the new vessel, an Ulstein SX195, arrived at Ulstein Verft in Norway in December, and is currently being fitted out. On delivery, Acta Centaurus will join Acta Auriga and Acta Orion in Acta Marine’s growing fleet of walk-to-work vessels that provide offshore logistics and accommodation services for clients in the offshore renewable and offshore energy industry.

As Acta Marine Wind Services general manager Simon Anink told the 2019 Offshore Wind Journal Conference in London in February, Acta Centaurus was designed to provide clients with safe, stepless transfer using a motion-compensated gangway from SMTS in the Netherlands. The gangway has an integrated tower and can transfer personnel and cargo in sea states of up to a significant wave height of 3 m (Hs 3.0 m).

Capable of working over both sides of the vessel, the gangway and tower with integrated elevator allow for stepless cargo and people flow from different deck levels to the gangway platform without exposing them to the weather.

Apart from transferring people, the gangway is also capable of lifting cargo of up to 1 tonne with motion compensation and handling trolleys loaded with 300 kg Euro pallets. The motioncompensated gangway is complemented by the 3D motioncompensated knuckleboom crane, which is capable of handling 20 tonnes without compensation and 6 tonnes of cargo with compensation in up to Hs 2.5 m. At maximum draft, the crane can lift loads to 36 m above water level. It has a working radius of between 5.0 m and 29.5 m.

Among the other key features of the high-spec vessel are a detachable boat landing that can be fitted on both sides of the vessel for landing crew transfer vessels (CTVs) and a CTV refuelling station. Acta Centaurus also uses a smart container skidding and seafastening system, is fitted with a fast rescue craft and has sufficient deck space for a larger daughter craft. The new

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Acta Centaurus, which has Ulstein’s well-known X-Bow and X-Stern, is approaching completion at Ulstein Verft in Norway

vessel also has a helideck. Thanks to the efficient use of space, the vessel offers 500 m2 indoor cargo space and 500 m2 of cargo space on the weather deck. A total of 24 twenty-foot equivalent units can be stored on the two deck levels, allowing clients to embark the equipment necessary for longer offshore campaigns.

Accommodation is provided for 120 people, including the ship’s crew. The accommodation areas were designed with a primary focus on ensuring that windfarm technicians resident on the ship are as well-rested as possible. With this in mind Acta Centaurus provides 80 cabins compliant with ‘DNV Comfort Class level 2.’ There are also multiple lounges and recreational spaces.

The accommodation areas have wireless internet access and cabins are equipped with integrated entertainment systems with ‘bring your own device’ functionality, together with television and video on demand services that windfarm technicians accommodated on the vessel can use when not at work.

Acta Centaurus has Ulstein’s now well-known X-Bow and X-Stern hullform which has a number of benefits compared with a conventional hullform. These include greater flexibility and operability while working offshore, with the X-Stern allowing for astern operation more than 70% of the time, leading to optimal station-keeping and manoeuvrability when operating in an offshore windfarm. Last, but by no means least, the hullform also significantly reduces slamming, noise and vibrations and hence increases crew comfort. The same hullform is used on Acta Auriga, and has provided a number of performance advantages, including reducing the time needed to bring technicians to turbines and enabling them to access more turbines per day. OWJ

Offshore Wind Journal | 1st Quarter 2019

30 | VESSELS

Innovative engineering meets hotel-style accommodation in award-winning SOV Due to be delivered in Q2 2019, the design of Louis Dreyfus Armateurs’ newbuild service operation vessel has fuel efficiency at its heart, along with workability and comfort for those on board

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ptly named in a number of respects, Wind of Change, the new service operation vessel that Louis Dreyfus Armateurs (LDA) is shortly to take delivery of sets a new standard for fuel efficiency on a service operation vessel (SOV) by combining marine engineering firsts with a particularly high standard of accommodation and a high level of workability.

The winner of the Offshore Renewables Award at the 2019 Annual Offshore Support Journal Awards, which took place in London in February, Wind of Change was designed by Salt Ship Design in Norway and is being built at Cemre Shipyard in Turkey.

Accepting the award at the conference, LDA head of newbuildings Hervé Lapierre, who also provided a presentation at the 2019 Offshore Wind

Wind of Change combines fuel efficiency and reduced emissions with workability and hotel-like accommodation

Offshore Wind Journal | 1st Quarter 2019

Journal Conference, said teamwork between the designer, shipyard and client was the key to developing a successful design.

To be fitted with a 19-m motioncompensated gangway from Uptime in Norway and the first example of a TTS Colibri motion-compensated crane from TTS Group and Ulstein in Norway, Wind of Change has a unique power plant based on using conventional diesel engines (L21/31 variable-speed gensets from MAN employing the EPROX energy-saving electric propulsion system), with the addition of ABB’s OnBoard DC grid and an innovative power and energy management system.

As Mr Lapierre explained at the Offshore Wind Journal Conference, in another first, the Onboard DC grid will also integrate two sets of batteries that will be used primarily as a ‘spinning reserve’ and for peak shaving, reducing the demands on the engines.

Battery power will also provide backup for the generators on the vessel, reducing the need to run spare generator capacity. This level of efficiency will, said Mr Lapierre, reduce wear and tear on the ship’s engines and significantly increase fuel efficiency at reduced loads. In a conventional AC power system, the ship’s generators would be required to run at fixed speed regardless of the power demand on board.

However, as Mr Lapierre also explained, not only will the batteries on the new vessel have environmental benefits, they will also reduce vibration

when operating in hybrid mode. “We have made every effort to save energy,” Mr Lapierre said. Ensuring that windfarm technicians are comfortable on board the vessel was a priority for LDA, he explained.

As he further explained, the common spaces on Wind of Change have been designed to be as bright and comfortable as possible, so the lounges have fullheight windows and the messroom is fitted with windows on either side.

“The idea is to get a lot of light inside the common spaces,” said Mr Lapierre, adding that LDA wants service personnel to ‘forget they are on a ship.’

“We wanted to give them as much comfort as possible aboard the ship – it’s like a 4- or 5-star hotel,” Mr Lapierre claimed.

Delivery of the vessel is expected by the end of April 2019, Mr Lapierre said and, when delivered, Wind of Change will enter a charter with offshore wind developer Ørsted on the Borkum Riffgrund 1 and 2 and Gode Wind 1 and 2 offshore windfarms off the coast of Germany.

A sister vessel, Wind of Hope, has been also been ordered and will service Ørsted’s Hornsea Two windfarm offshore the UK. Like Wind of Change, the second ship is designed by Salt Ship Design and will also have the innovative hybrid propulsion system and energy-storage system in the form of batteries.

Unlike Wind of Change, Wind of Hope will have a new walk-to-work gangway – the TTS Horizon – but will also have the TTS Colibri crane. OWJ

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32 | FOUNDATIONS

Fixed versus floating offshore foundations – a false dichotomy?

Floating wind has long been seen as the next generation of offshore wind and as a competitor to bottom-fixed concepts, but cannot yet compete with it on cost. However, that is likely to change

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loating foundations for offshore wind continue to be a hot topic within the offshore wind sector. In the drive to reduce the cost of offshore wind, particularly for floating foundations, attention is often placed on choosing the ‘best’ technology and processes for projects.

As BVG Associates senior consultant Andy Logan noted recently, floating-foundation technologies are competing against one another as well as being collectively compared with their established fixed-foundation cousins. But as he pointed out, although the technology is fundamentally important, it is not the only factor having a significant influence on project costs. Have we lost sight of this as we debate fixed versus floating foundations? he asked.

Mr Logan said that, imagining how the levelised cost of energy (LCOE) of fixed- and floating-foundation projects vary with increasing water depth, we might determine the water depth at which it makes commercial sense to use

floating rather than fixed foundations.

Of course, the LCOE of a project is not perfectly correlated with water depths. Different projects using fixed or floating foundations will have their own capital and operational costs specific to the chosen foundation technology and these costs may themselves also vary with water depth. “When we analyse how sensitive LCOE is to these technology-specific costs we see that the crossover point becomes a range rather than a single point,” he explained.

However, technology-specific capital and operating costs are not the only factors that will determine the size of the LCOE crossover range either. There are also factors that contribute to LCOE applied to the project more generally.

These include annual energy production, the cost of financing and project risk.

When we consider how these influence fixed and floating projects’ LCOE, there is an even wider range than before.

“What this tells us is that deeper water doesn’t necessarily mean a higher cost of energy,” Mr Logan explained. “In

Equinor’s Hywind floating wind concept is being proposed for a growing range of potential applications

Offshore Wind Journal | 1st Quarter 2019

the hands of a capable developer, site selection and project design can make up for potentially higher capital and operating costs to achieve a lower project LCOE. As both technologies continue to mature, they each gain improved viability at intermediate water depths. The choice of foundation type then becomes an organisational or regional preference.”

Of course, floating offshore wind still has some catching up to do. Even if the rumours of a commercial-scale project on the horizon are true, the number of floating turbines will still be a very small fraction of fixed installations for a significant time to come. “Fortunately, floating wind can benefit from the wealth of learning we already have, and will have, in fixed offshore wind,” Mr Logan said, “not to mention that the rate of technology advancement and cost reduction have also surpassed industry expectations before.”

In Mr Logan’s view, the fixed or floating debate is a false dichotomy.

While some sites may be viable for both fixed and floating foundations, floating does not exist to replace fixed. Floating foundations enable the offshore wind industry to expand the global reach of offshore wind.

Equinor’s future Hywind Tampen project in Norway – that would not be economically viable on fixed foundations – is evidence of that.

“The size of the prize is big enough for all and if floating can mature in the way we expect then, like bottom-fixed offshore wind, it will support further cost reduction and drive down LCOE across the industry. There will always be a choice between fixed or floating at the project level, but even now we

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FOUNDATIONS | 33

can see an LCOE competition between the two is not relevant. We know it can produce two winners,” Mr Logan said.

Speaking at a recent conference, Lloyd’s Register renewables O&M principle engineer Mark Spring noted that compared with bottom-fixed offshore wind, the cost of floating wind is high – at least for the time being – but that this is expected to change.

Mr Spring noted that costs for bottom-fixed offshore wind have fallen steeply and that such is the great range and number of floating offshore wind foundations proposed, that the industry needs to identify which of these many concepts offers greatest cost-reduction potential.

He told the conference that apart from cost reduction, floating wind faces a number of other challenges. These include the need to drill into hard rock at depth in remote locations to install mooring systems. Others include the need to develop floating electrical substations, dynamic, high-voltage electrical cables for use with floating wind and the need, where possible to provide local content. All floating wind concepts must be capable of being industrialised and mass-produced.

EDF Energies Nouvelles project manager Christine de Jouëtte highlighted the need for design methodologies that could capture the effects hydrodynamic and aerodynamic forces on floating wind turbines, and for the industry to develop standards and rules for floating wind.

She also highlighted the need for infrastructure in harbours capable of handling construction and assembly of floaters on a larger scale. This would require improvements to quayside infrastructure, cranes and large areas where assembly could take place before floaters were towed into place.

As highlighted in the Fourth Quarter 2018 issue of OWJ, wind energy veteran Henrik Stiesdal believes that standardisation will be one of the most important issues influencing the success or otherwise of the nascent floating offshore wind sector. “Windfarms in shallow water are an anomaly,” said Mr

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Andy Logan: “deeper water doesn’t necessarily mean a higher cost of energy”

Stiesdal, a keen proponent of floating wind energy. “Most of the future demand for offshore wind will come from deepwater, which means floating wind,“ he said.

However, in Mr Stiesdal’s view, there are too many floating offshore wind concepts that are technically interesting but which fail the test of whether they could be standardised and manufactured in large quantities.

The market will need a technically advantageous concept that can also be industrialised, he told delegates.

“Because they cannot easily be industrialised,” he said, “some will inevitably fail the economic viability test.

“For deepwater floating windfarms the yardstick will not be costs compared with bottom-fixed offshore wind,” he said. “The yardstick against which floating wind will have to be able to compete is solar PV and storage.” Mr Stiesdal said that when the floating offshore wind market takes off, the ability to industrialise concepts successfully will be a “superstrong lever.”

In February 2019, the companies behind the TetraSpar floating offshore wind foundation took a final investment decision on a plan to test it off the Norwegian coast.

Testing will begin in 2020. Shell has increased its share in the project from 33% to 66%. innogy retains 33% in the newly founded project company that will test the foundation, and Mr Stiesdal’s company, Stiesdal Offshore Technologies, is contributing to the project with its modular TetraSpar concept and holds the remaining 1% of shares.

As technology partner, Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy will provide the wind turbine and required services. The demonstration project will use a 3.6 MW Siemens Gamesa direct drive offshore wind turbine.

The partners will be part of a project team that will gain detailed, practical insights into the construction, installation and operation of the TetraSpar concept as well as detailed performance data.

Mr Stiesdal said, “Reaching the final investment decision on the deployment and test of our first full-scale demonstration project is a very important milestone for us.

We have already benefited greatly from the dialogue with Shell, innogy and Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy during the project planning, and we look forward to further enhancing the dialogue during the project execution. The benefits of our partners’ experience combined with the competences of our manufacturing partner Welcon will put us on the fasttrack for rapid commercialisation.”

Dynamic stability tests on a true-toscale model have been running since December 2018, using the wave/wind channel at the University of Maine and the wave tank at Force in Lyngby, Denmark. The project partners said a prototype of the TetraSpar floating wind will be installed approximately 10 km from shore in water depths of 200 m at the test site of the Marine Energy Test Centre near Stavanger, Norway.

Finding a route to market for floating wind is also a challenge. Demonstrators could provide an invaluable way to gain experience and show what technology can do, and some kind of innovation revenue mechanism might help. OWJ

Offshore Wind Journal | 1st Quarter 2019

GOING BEYOND COMPLIANCE

CONDITION MONITORING | 35

Better monitoring and better data: a passport to superior operation An ever growing range of technology is being applied to monitor offshore windfarms and the cables that bring power from windfarms ashore, but how do we ensure we make the best possible use of data?

Lloyd’s Register says IRIS can help with a huge range of activities, including operations and maintenance, vessel planning and cable installation

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ew statistical techniques and algorithms from the digital sector are being applied to help improve decision-making during operations and at a strategic level, but as the amount of data obtained from offshore windfarms grow, so does the need for quicker, better decision-making based on that data.

We need to get value from this growing data stream, but how can we harness the data that matters and enable better decisions that are more easily taken, by the right people at the right time?

Those were some of the questions posed by Lloyd’s Register vice president survey and geoengineering Richard Orren and technology innovation leader Dr Rebecca Sykes at a recent conference.

“How can we find the right nuggets

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of data, in the vast number of terabytes available, to enable these decisions?” they asked. How can we ensure that early-phase survey data is useable throughout the lifetime of an asset and not just stuck on a shelf?

Lloyd’s Register’s solution is IRIS, a project-support and data-management web application enabling offshore project teams to make more effective decisions through better access to information.

The modular platform is sold as a subscription-based turnkey solution and is, said Lloyd’s Register’s experts, “ideally suited to the offshore energy and marine sectors as it brings ‘hard to access’ offshore data into a single interface.”

IRIS provides access to dynamic spatial and temporal marine data and documentation, augmented by graphical dashboards for sensor and performance tracking. It incorporates web mapping, marine co-ordination and

vessel tracking, HSEQ and performance monitoring and what they described as ‘spatial data visualisation.’

IRIS can help with a huge range of operations, including operations and maintenance, vessel planning optimisation and cable installation. One of the early users of IRIS, DeepOcean, described it as “a truly innovative capability and cost-effective service providing critical operational visibility.”

Looking ahead, Lloyd’s Register is investigating other ways to help clients understand the data they have and unlock its value. These include asset ‘digital twins’ that can be used to simulate the normal functioning of an asset.

A digital twin refers to a digital replica of physical assets (the physical twin), processes and systems that can be used for a wide range of purposes.

The digital representation provides both the elements and the dynamics of how an internet of things device operates throughout its lifecycle.

According to Lloyd’s Register, in the offshore wind industry, potential applications of digital twins include simulating the heating cycle of a gearbox in an offshore wind turbine.

“A digital twin can precisely simulate the behaviour of an asset in a wide range of operational situations and environments,” they explained. “The digital twin takes (multiple) sensor measurements as input and simulates the expected behaviour in terms of an expected, dependent sensor reading.

For a wind turbine we would use wind speed, shaft RPM and torque to predict the temperature of the gearbox.

“With a dataset or a collection of datasets that contain multiple faults

Offshore Wind Journal | 1st Quarter 2019

36 | CONDITION MONITORING

for several different similar assets, it is possible to connect breakdowns with a mismatch between asset and digital twin. This allows us to move away from time-based remaining life to conditionbased remaining life.

“Looking at the distribution of breakdowns, a distribution can be calculated that allows the calculation of an average asset condition at breakdown. The breakdown data can be used to calculate a statistical model that describes breakdown-probability with respect to condition time. In this way, the digital twin can be used to simulate the normal functioning of an asset.

“Historical data is used to train a machine-learning model/artificial intelligence (AI) to simulate the complex physical behaviour of the asset without requiring actual physical models and a data-driven digital twin can be combined with available physical models to improve their respective capabilities.”

Using a system such as IRIS, they suggested, all project stakeholders can monitor relevant aspects and optimise operations in real-time. Apps can be

New sensing technology from in and outside the industry is being applied to monitor the assets in offshore windfarms

used to provide dedicated data streams and analytics and data can be held for the lifetime of a project, accessed via a standard interface providing additional analytics, comparisons with sister projects, and lessons learned.

Helping to provide an ever-growing stream of data is a new generation of sensors and algorithms, among them

Monitoring subsea cables Above-water assets are not the only ones that need to be monitored on an offshore windfarm. Subsea cables also need to be monitored, for which Synaptec, an innovative company based in Glasgow with roots in the University of Strathclyde’s Institute for Energy and Environment, has developed a potential solution.

The first product based on the technology the company developed is ‘Refase.’ It was designed to reduce significantly the outage and repair costs caused by subsea power cable faults. By sending and reflecting light along optical fibres available inside subsea power cables, Refase collates electrical performance measurements from up to 50 different locations.

Refase recognises faults in a cable and within milliseconds permits unaffected cables and turbines to return to production, much faster than humans or even circuit breakers respond to the fault. The result, the company claims, is significantly reduced O&M response times, repair costs, asset damage and income loss.

Synaptec managing director Philip Orr said, “Until now, no-

Offshore Wind Journal | 1st Quarter 2019

highly precise sensors being developed

by Morphosense, a start-up based in Grenoble in France that recently raised €2M (US$2.3M) from Sofimac Innovation, Bouygues Construction and Crédit Agricole Alpes Développement.

Founded in 2016, Morphosense has developed a sensing technology it believes is unique for the real-time surveillance of the structural integrity of a range of structures, including floating offshore windfarms.

The product the company has developed, Neuron, is based on a system of high-precision sensors associated with patented algorithms which makes it possible to measure the static and dynamic behaviour of structures and to carry out predictive maintenance.

Neuron measures 3D deformations and vibration in three axes.

Using the funds it has raised, Morphosense hopes to accelerate commercial development of the technology in two key markets, offshore and civil engineering, secure ISO 9001 and ATEX certification, and continue to develop predictive maintenance software that uses AI and machine learning. OWJ

one has been able to use optical fibre for real-time monitoring and control of offshore wind power assets, which by their nature are remote and inaccessible.

Synaptec’s objective with Refase is to reduce operating costs in three key ways when offshore electrical faults happen. First, by eliminating human response costs, the cost of engineers, crew transfer vessels and waiting for a weather window to reach the offshore substation to undertake manual fault location. Second, by minimising loss of income, returning healthy cables and turbines to generation in milliseconds instead of days. And finally, by avoiding the damage from repeat exposure to faults caused by manual fault location, the production lifespan of turbines is extended.

“We call it our ‘free-from’ approach,” said Mr Orr. We are free from live copper wiring, big housings, power supplies, the requirement for GPS satellite access or data networks, and it even reduces the need for human intervention.

“Eventually, we hope to see Refase planned into the architecture of new offshore wind projects, but also emerging technologies like floating wind, tidal and wave power, which are even more vulnerable to dynamic cable failure.”

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38 | OPERATIONS & MAINTENANCE

Pilot projects will determine whether Romeo’s promise will be fulfilled 2020 will see the owners of three offshore windfarms – one owned by EDF and two owned by Iberdrola – begin testing technology that could significantly reduce offshore wind’s O&M costs

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echnology developed as part of the EU-funded Reliable OM decision tools and strategies for high LCoE reduction on Offshore wind (Romeo) project is to be put to the test at EDF’s Teesside offshore windfarm in the UK, and at Iberdrola’s East Anglia One (UK) and Wikinger (Germany) offshore windfarms next year.

The technology developed in the project could significantly reduce operations and maintenance costs, Romeo project coordinator Cesar Yanes told OWJ. The main objective of the Romeo project is to reduce O&M costs by developing and demonstrating an O&M informationmanagement system and an analytics platform capable of improving decision-making processes, allowing for a transition from corrective, calendar-based maintenance to lower cost condition-based maintenance strategies.

The project foresees using a cloud-based and internet of things (IoT) platform and big data to provide an in-depth understanding of the real-time behaviour of the main components in an offshore turbine under operational conditions.

It will use machine-learning technology that has been pioneered in other spheres and wind-specific monitoring technology. Romeo will develop what the consortium carrying out the project described as ‘third-generation’ conditionThe Romeo projectfor is using advanced monitoring systems components andmonitoring low-cost structural technology, machine learning, big data and the condition monitoring systems. The output of the project will be internet of things to reduce O&M costs new technology ready for commercialisation that can be rolledout throughout the offshore wind sector.

“The models and tools that we are developing will be tested

by EDF and Iberdrola on their windfarms from mid-2020,”

The Romeo project is using advanced monitoring technology, machine learning, big data and the internet of things to reduce O&M costs

Offshore Wind Journal | 1st Quarter 2019

Mr Yanes told OWJ. “The pilot projects will show us how successful we have been and will enable us to test technology that will monitor gearboxes, convertors, blades, transformers and bearings in offshore wind turbines.

“By rolling the system out on different windfarms with different turbines and environmental conditions we will be able to prove portability between projects, both offshore and onshore, where applicable, which will be required if our overall goal of reducing the cost of wind energy is to be met. “Our aim is to reduce the incidence of component failure and unplanned maintenance while increasing reliability.”

Mr Yanes said the pilot project phase of the Horizon 2020 project is expected to take approximately 12 months to complete.

At the most recent project meeting, which took place in Austria in December 2018, the participants in the project consortium – which in addition to Iberdrola includes EDF, Siemens Gamesa, Ramboll, IBM Research Zurich, Indra, Bachmann, Laulagun Bearings, Uptime Engineering, Zabala Innovation Consulting, Cranfield University and the University of Strathclyde – heard that the work packages undertaken to date are progressing well.

The main objective of the meeting was to follow up on progress and define the next steps. The meeting was hosted by Uptime Engineering, leader of one of the Romeo work packages. During the meeting, the consortium partners and work package leaders demonstrated the progress they had made with individual work packages and co-ordinated work that will take place in 2019.

A total of 21 technical reports have been submitted to the European Commission to evaluate progress made to date, among them an architecture and data framework that brought together the ICT architectures for pilot projects. Also among the deliverables submitted to the Commission was a review of existing cost and O&M models and a high-fidelity cost/revenue model for impact assessment. Apart from proving the technology works, the consortium needs to demonstrate it is cost-effective compared with existing O&M strategies.

Early work undertaken by the consortium in Phase 1 of the project focused on developing the information management system for Romeo, which will handle and process data-streams from a variety of sources, both human and machine-based. Early stage work also focused on developing the physical models that will be used in the project and specifying monitoring systems.

The project was awarded a Horizon 2020 grant of €10M (US$11.4M) and has a budget of approximately €16M. It is due to be completed in 2022. OWJ

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OPERATIONS & MAINTENANCE | 39

Blade inspection outfit aims to industrialise offshore O&M The company behind an innovative blade inspection concept that combines drones flown from ships with artificial intelligence is looking at similar services for other parts of an offshore wind turbine

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t the end of January 2019, EWPL Ocean confirmed it has been awarded a contract to undertake a full-scope offshore blade inspection and damage assessment on an as yet unnamed offshore windfarm on behalf of Dutch utility Eneco.

The company did not provide details about which windfarm the contract was for or provide details about the value of the contract or its duration, but Eneco owns two offshore wind projects in the Dutch sector of the North Sea, 129 MW Eneco Luchterduinen and 120 MW Prinses Amaliawindpark.

The latest deal is important because it confirms commercial acceptance of the innovative blade assessment concept developed by EWPL Ocean, a partnership between Esvagt and Wind Power LAB to provide operations and maintenance (O&M) services for offshore windfarms. It could be one of many such contracts for EWPL Ocean, which is already considering expanding the range of cost-saving services it offers asset owners in the offshore wind industry and has undertaken a number of blade inspections covered by nondisclosure agreements.

The companies launched their blade assessment service in 2018. Drones flown from vessels owned and operated by Esvagt will provide high-resolution photography to which artificial intelligence techniques will be applied by Wind Power LAB to provide asset owners with a detailed report and analysis of blade condition and repairs that may be needed.

Speaking at the 2019 Offshore Wind Journal Conference in London in early February, EWPL Ocean chief executive Anders Ropke said the company’s business strategy brings together two concepts that are becoming increasingly important in the offshore wind industry: using unmanned aerial vehicles or drones as they are commonly known, and digitalisation. The aim is to industrialise offshore windfarm inspection and bring about significant cost reduction. Inspecting turbine blades is expensive, laborious and can be an imprecise process that requires good weather and specialist personnel.

Mr Ropke highlighted that one of the key advantages of the EWPL Ocean concept is that, apart from removing humans from the equation, the company can undertake blade inspections in winter and provide asset owners with a detailed report on which to base maintenance campaigns in summer. This greatly reduces the number of ‘access events’ required to inspect blades, reduces costs and enhances safety because windfarm technicians need

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EWPL Ocean’s blade inspection service uses drones flown from Esvagt’s vessels combined with AI applied to images captured by the UAVs

only access turbines with blades in need of attention.

Mr Ropke said the drones flown from Esvagt’s vessels were robust unmanned aerial vehicles able to operate in wind speeds of up to 30 m/second.

“We can finalise a maintenance campaign in around a quarter the time it would normally take,” he told delegates at the Offshore Wind Journal Conference.

“Once repairs have been undertaken in the summer months, when weather conditions allow for ease of access, we can conduct another campaign in autumn to validate the repairs.”

Artificial intelligence techniques developed by Wind Power LAB are used by the EWPL Ocean team for defect detection. Mr Ropke said AI techniques are applied to around 500 images of every turbine taken during an inspection campaign.

“Our core service is to provide blade defect assessments to our customers that form the basis of repair recommendations.

This is true data-driven maintenance,” said Mr Ropke.

“Our defect assessment reports cover the entire surface of a blade; details on defects are categorised and are available from the report we produce after a survey is carried out. Working this way is much less expensive, faster and more precise than conventional visual inspection. We provide intelligent asset management rather than annual inspections of the type that are usually used.”

Mr Ropke told the conference that EWPL Ocean is already looking at providing a range of complementary services to blade inspection. These could include inspecting wind turbine towers for corrosion and nacelle inspections.

In due course, the company could also offer underwater services using unmanned underwater vehicles to assess the state of foundations. OWJ

Offshore Wind Journal | 1st Quarter 2019

40 | OFFSHORE ACCESS/WALK-TO-WORK

Offshore access and vessel services market in transition The cost of chartering service operation vessels has increased significantly, with contracts for crew transfer vessels evolving and leading players such as Siemens Gamesa rolling out new strategies in response to a tightening market

A panel discussion at the 2019 Offshore Wind Journal Conference focused on SOVs, CTVs and offshore access systems

T

he market for providing service operation vessels (SOVs) and crew transfer vessels (CTVs) is evolving rapidly, as speakers at the 2019 Offshore Wind Journal Conference in London in February told delegates. The cost of chartering subsea vessels for use in the offshore wind sector is increasing as demand picks up in the offshore oil and gas sector, and the way vessels are contracted and what is expected of them is also changing. Changes are also afoot in the CTV market.

F3O Offshore Services managing director David Nielsen told delegates on 5 February that “everything has changed” in the market for SOVs. “Prices have doubled,” said Mr Nielsen. As the oil and gas market has tightened so the number of subsea vessels available for offshore wind work has declined. Typically, offshore wind charters require a vessel with accommodation for 80-100 people and a 250-tonne crane.

“Although prices are much

Offshore Wind Journal | 1st Quarter 2019

higher than they were, offshore wind companies are still chartering vessels,” Mr Nielsen said. “They are willing to pay higher rates.”

Acta Marine Wind Services general manager commercial offshore Simon Anink said the nature of the relationship between offshore wind companies and vessel owners is also changing. Mr Anink said the market was seeing more and more turnkey contracts, and much greater use of key performance indicators. Acta Marine operates purpose-built SOVs rather than subsea vessels adapted for that role. “Charterers are moving from paying for a vessel to paying for a service,” he told delegates.

Damen Shipyard Group business development manager offshore wind Peter Robert agreed with Mr Anink and said the market is moving towards performance contracting. He said this means it is more important than ever to predict the ‘workability’ of a vessel on a particular offshore wind site.

Mr Robert said this is not only a

question of how a ship would perform on an offshore windfarm but how that vessel would perform when fitted with different offshore access systems. Another trend in the SOV market he highlighted is vessel sharing, with a single vessel working across more than one windfarm.

In a panel discussion on the walkto-work market, Uptime International sales and business development director Bjørnar Huse said the level of performance expected of gangways is evolving all the time.

“Gangways are getting bigger, they are capable of lifting more equipment, but the main focus of development now is on automation and using ‘intelligent gangways’ that are less dependent on a ‘man in the loop’ to operate them. A computer can handle anomalies and make gangway operation safer, more reliable and dependable,” he said.

Mr Nielsen concluded that he expected the cost of chartering vessels would continue to increase and the market would continue to tighten.

Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy

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OFFSHORE ACCESS/WALK-TO-WORK | 41

is to award the first contract under a new ‘Euro tender’ scheme that will see it contract for multiple CTVs servicing offshore windfarms on more than one project or in more than one country.

With the market for crew transfer vessels tightening, the company is looking at new approaches to contracting for vessels.

Siemens Gamesa chartering manager Craig Morton told the 2019 Offshore Wind Journal Conference that contracting the right kind of CTV at the right time had become noticeably more challenging and that, at times, it had been unable to find the right kind of vessel or any vessel for work at specific locations. He said the market for CTVs had been steadily tightening in the last 18 months.

Mr Morton said the company welcomed recent contracts for newbuild CTVs and felt that “a few more” would also be welcome.

In response to these challenges, the company has been looking at a number of ways to charter vessels. These include placing longer term contracts for CTVs, bundling tenders and linking projects. Mr Morton said he hoped the company could use its size to give as many contracts as it could to one owner.

“If there are two requirements over a season, we’re looking at whether we might link those together and make it one requirement,” he said. “In this way we might be able to utilise one vessel rather than taking two from the market.”

The company hopes European tender packages will enable Siemens Gamesa to place contracts for several vessels that would service multiple windfarms. Mr Morton said doing so would provide the company with operational and commercial benefits.

At the time of writing in midFebruary, a contract was expected to be awarded resulting from the company’s first Euro tender shortly. Mr Morton could not confirm how many vessels were involved or where they would work but said the company’s experience of running that tender had been very positive and a second Euro tender would be launched shortly.

In addition to cross-utilising vessels

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on multiple windfarms, other options the company is considering include extending contracts for high-performing vessels to avoid having to launch new tenders. By high-performing vessels he said he meant the kind of vessel that could stay offshore for prolonged periods of time, supporting SOVs on far-offshore projects.

“We’re talking about vessels with excellent seakeeping capability, accommodation for up to 24 passengers, one that has high bunker capacity and high water capacity, vessels that might actually stay offshore for a week or so during summer campaigns. We’ve had a few experiences where we haven’t been able to fulfil our requirements with these higher-performing vessels.”

Mr Morton said Siemens Gamesa also intended to make better use of data about CTV operations and market intelligence to ensure it can contract the vessels it wants when it needs them. He said that Siemens Gamesa isn’t the only company looking seriously at longerterm contracts either.

As the European market for SOVs and CTVs evolves a market for both vessel types is also emerging in the US, and one of the leading designers and builders of crew transfer vessels in Europe has unveiled a new design aimed at the offshore wind market in the country.

Damen Shipyards Group’s new design, the fast crew supplier (FCS) 3410

Peter Robert: “the SOV market is moving towards performance contracting”

Smart working for windfarm technicians A management platform adopted by one of the UK’s leading operators of crew transfer vessels will provide quick and efficient access to essential information for vessels, crew and technicians.

CWind, part of Global Marine Group, has implemented CrewSmart’s management support service across its fleet of 21 crew transfer vessels (CTVs) and offshore wind technicians.

The cloud-based CrewSmart system provides CWind with comprehensive control over personnel and fleet administration, optimising the overall efficiency of the operations team.

service accommodation and transfer vessel, is derived from its successful series of Twin Axe bow designs. The Axe Bow is a patented design that allows the vessel to ‘cut’ through waves instead of slamming, providing improved seakeeping and onboard comfort.

The FCS 3410 further develops the Axe Bow and Damen Fast Crew Supplier concept, tailoring it to meet the requirements of the US market, as Damen sales manager US Daan Dijxhoorn explained.

“This vessel is well suited to numerous markets however, we have given it long endurance capability so it can remain at sea for up to five days at a time – a requirement typically seen in US operations. To facilitate this, we have designed a vessel 6 m longer than previous FCS types, able to host more onboard personnel and accommodation.”

The FCS 3410 also draws on the successful Damen accommodation support vessel 9020, a walk-to-work vessel designed for transporting and providing accommodation for offshore personnel for up to a month. It would be built at an as yet undisclosed location in the US. OWJ

Offshore Wind Journal | 1st Quarter 2019

42 | PROJECT FOCUS

Avangrid puts its foot to the floor on Vineyard Wind Avangrid Renewables, one of two companies behind Vineyard Wind, the first commercial-scale offshore wind project in the US, is exploring options to complete the project ahead of schedule, but efforts to secure renewable technology resources status in a recent capacity auction failed

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nnouncing details of its Q4 and FY2018 earnings results while providing a 2019 earnings outlook, Avangrid Renewables’ parent company, Avangrid Inc, part of Iberdrola, said it is looking at ways to complete the Vineyard Wind project in 2021, a year earlier than planned.

Avangrid chief executive James Torgerson told investors that the company’s projects in the US remain on track and said the 800-MW Vineyard Wind offshore windfarm it plans to build in a joint venture with Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners is making progress on key approvals and permits.

“We continue to expect to begin construction in late 2019,” Mr Torgerson said, but explained the company is also assessing whether it might be possible to complete both 400 MW tranches of the 800 MW project by 2020.

The original plan for the project – the first commercialscale offshore windfarm in the US – was for Vineyard Wind to be built in two stages, with work beginning in 2019 and the first 400 MW stage coming online in 2021, with the second 400 MW stage coming online a year later. Mr Torgerson said the company was still considering whether an accelerated schedule might be possible.

The company earlier announced it had signed a preferred supplier agreement with a contractor to build the substations for the project. Mr Torgerson said that negotiations about long-lead items for the project were also at an advanced stage.

As highlighted by OWJ, in November 2018, Vineyard Wind selected MHI Vestas as preferred supplier of the turbines for the project, and a facility in Albany in New York will manufacture the foundations. Anbaric Development Partners is the company’s partner for the export cable for Vineyard Wind.

Vineyard Wind also continues to advance through the permitting process towards construction and operation.

Offshore Wind Journal | 1st Quarter 2019

Vineyard Wind will be the first use in the US of the V164-9.5 MW offshore wind turbine from MHI Vestas Offshore Wind

In February 2019, the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs approved the project’s Final Environmental Impact Report (FEIR). The decision finalised the Massachusetts Environmental Policy Act (MEPA) review process for the project, allowing it to proceed with state, regional and local permitting. With MEPA certification, the project will now seek permit review from the Cape Cod and Martha’s Vineyard Commissions, and the Barnstable Conservation Commission, among others.

FEIR certification was the latest milestone for Vineyard Wind as it advances through permitting. Other progress to date includes ongoing review of the power purchase agreements by the Department of Public Utilities, a process expected to conclude in March 2019; executing a Host Community Agreement with the Town of Barnstable in October 2018; completing evidentiary hearings before the Massachusetts

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PROJECT FOCUS | 43

Energy Facilities Siting Board in October 2018, with a tentative decision expected in March 2019, and final decision anticipated in early April; and executing a lease with the 26-acre New Bedford Marine Commerce Terminal in October 2018 to support construction of the Vineyard Wind project.

The company intends to partner with two companies in Bridgeport, McAllister Towing and Bridgeport Boatworks, to develop the offshore windfarm. If approved, this initiative will mean that over 500 jobs will be created during the construction phase and 1,900 during the entire project. It will also bring in over US$4Bn in revenue to the state, improve the reliability of the electricity supply and stabilise prices.

Not everything has been plain sailing for Vineyard Wind, however. In early February 2019, it asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) for a waiver that would have enabled the windfarm to take place in a capacity auction. In an emergency motion it asked FERC to halt an Independent System Operator New England (ISO-NE) forward capacity auction due to start on 4 February. Ultimately it was unsuccessful.

The company was seeking renewable technology resource (RTR) status in the auction, which would have exempted it from the auction’s minimum offer price rule. Weeks earlier, it unsuccessfully requested a waiver of ISO-NE tariff provisions that require RTR exemption to be granted only to resources within the borders of a New England state. In mid-February, the company called on FERC to rerun the ISO-NE capacity auction so that offshore wind could participate. It said that doing so would reduce capacity prices and save consumers millions of dollars as a result.

To clarify what it described as “misinformation that has been reported in the press and circulated online,” ISO New England’s ISO Newswire recently published some of what it said was the background on Vineyard Wind’s participation in the auction. It said that Vineyard Wind participated in both FCA 13’s primary auction and secondary substitution auction and that the offshore windfarm secured a 54-MW capacity supply obligation during the substitution auction.

“At issue is the RTR exemption, which allows for a certain volume of megawatts from New England-based renewable resources to be exempt from the minimum offer price rule that applies to new resources in the primary auction. Renewable resources do not need to be designated as RTRs to participate in the primary or substitution auctions,” it explained.

“During the qualification process for FCA 13, it was determined that the RTR exemption language precluded resources in federal waters from receiving the exemption.

Realising this stakeholder-submitted language in the tariff diverged from the initial intent of the provision, ISO New England, working with the New England states and members of the New England Power Pool, filed tariff changes on 30 November 2018 to allow offshore wind resources located in federal waters – such as Vineyard Wind – to qualify for RTR treatment in FCA 13 and future auctions. These changes were approved by FERC on 29 January 2019.

“As part of the changes, resources located in federal waters

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that wished to participate in the FCA 13 auction as an RTR would need to seek a waiver from FERC since deadlines for qualifying for the auction had passed,” said ISO Newswire.

“Vineyard Wind applied for this waiver on 14 December 2018. The ISO filed comments on Vineyard Wind’s waiver request, stating that it did not oppose the waiver and if FERC approved the tariff language changes by 29 January the resource would receive RTR treatment for FCA 13. As of 8 February 2019, FERC had not yet acted on the waiver request,” it said.

“Because the Commission did not act on the waiver request in time for the auction, Vineyard Wind did not receive RTR treatment in FCA 13. Vineyard Wind filed an emergency motion on the day of the auction, asking FERC to either delay the auction, or to require it to be rerun later, after FERC ruled on Vineyard Wind’s waiver request. FERC did not act on the request for stay before the auction. The ISO conducted and concluded the primary auction in accordance with FERCapproved rules on 4 February 2019.

“While ISO New England did not oppose Vineyard Wind’s request for a waiver to allow it to receive RTR treatment in the auction, the ISO did oppose Vineyard Wind’s request to delay or rerun the auction because doing so would harm market participants who made decisions under the expectation that the auction results would be final, subject to FERC approval.”

However, it seems that offshore wind projects in federal waters, including Vineyard Wind, will be eligible for the RTR exemption in next year’s auction. OWJ

Vineyard Wind will be built 22 km off the coast of Massachusetts and is the first commercial-scale offshore windfarm in the US

Offshore Wind Journal | 1st Quarter 2019

44 | ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES

Landmark agreement will protect wildlife from US offshore wind development One of the Atlantic Ocean’s most endangered species will be protected under an ‘unprecedented’ agreement between three environmental groups and a leading offshore wind developer

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ffshore wind developer Vineyard Wind, which is planning to build a large offshore wind project 23 km south of Martha’s Vineyard on the east coast of the US, has agreed to protect the highly endangered North Atlantic right whale while constructing and operating the project.

Responding to the agreement, the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) said it advocates for all forms of clean renewable energy projects, including the offshore wind industry, and said the agreement “deepens its conviction” that the US can move forward with both goals – developing clean energy in the form of offshore wind power while protecting wildlife such as the endangered right whale.

“The standards agreed to by Vineyard Wind set the bar by which other offshore wind developers will be measured,” said NRDC project scientist, marine mammals, ocean division, Francine Kershaw.

North Atlantic right whale numbers are in decline and concern has been raised about the small number of breeding females. The NRDC and other environmental organisations believe that without protection from all additional stressors, such as offshore activity in connection with constructing windfarms, the species may not recover.

Ms Kershaw explained that, as part of the agreement, Vineyard Wind’s project plan adopts restrictions that exceed those required by law on vessel speed and limits noise from

Vineyard Wind has agreed to a number of mitigation strategies to protect marine mammals from noise during project construction

Offshore Wind Journal | 1st Quarter 2019

pile driving and geophysical survey activity to times when North Atlantic right whales are unlikely to be in the area.

The NRDC explained that the mitigation measures that will be adopted during the project include a seasonal prohibition on pile driving activity from 1 January through 30 April, when North Atlantic right whales are most likely to be present in the project area.

The agreement also includes enhanced mitigation protocols for pile-driving from 1 November through 30 December and from 1 May through 14 May, and for geophysical survey activities from 1 January through 14 May to reflect times of likely presence of North Atlantic right whales. Enhanced mitigation protocols include restrictions on initiating pile driving at night or during periods of poor visibility and establishing a large, protective monitoring zone.

Also part of the agreement are comprehensive monitoring protocols during construction, including minimum clearance zones that will be monitored for whale sound by real-time, passive acoustics and whale sightings by visual observers.

A vessel speed restriction of 10 knots for all projectassociated vessels from 1 November through 14 May, with the exception of crew transfer vessels required to undertake additional monitoring measures, will also be enforced. The developers and their contractors will be required to provide timely reporting of North Atlantic right whale sightings to the National Marine Fisheries Service or the Coast Guard.

Underwater noise reduction measures will be used to limit potentially disruptive sound emitted during construction.

Ms Kershaw said Vineyard Wind will also invest US$3M to develop and deploy innovative technology and undertake scientific research to further safeguard marine mammals from a range of ocean impacts, such as incidental entanglement in fishing gear.

The agreement was co-signed by NRDC, the National Wildlife Federation, and the Conservation Law Foundation, and was sent to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management.

“As we transition to green energy, we need to ensure that offshore wind projects avoid potential conflict with endangered species that could slow their recovery. This agreement serves as a model to ensure that offshore wind projects don’t adversely affect wildlife or cause delays for the offshore wind industry,” she concluded. OWJ

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