Navigating offshore wind’s marine blueprint
Marine Advisory taking offshore wind from site selection to construction
Global offshore wind continues to go gangbusters with auctions announced in every corner of the globe – from a large number taking place this year alone in more than 10 European markets, to the USA coast to coast, to South America, and all the way to Australasia in years to come.
Offshore wind development is expanding further afield, into deeper waters and more and more rapidly. Whilst this may spell a raft of technical challenges and opportunities, we must not ignore the significant marine implications of our fast-developing industry. Navigating the marine blueprint of an offshore wind project early on, is not only key to advanced risk mitigation, but also has a direct impact on the bottom line and operational productivity of a future project.
So what do we mean by marine implications?
Offshore transportation and installation (T&I) operations are set to grow by 6 times by 2031, from what is already a stretched industry. EPCI and other contractors with the relevant experience are in demand, as are experienced marine personnel and crews, with understanding of the procedures, environments in which they work and other aspects of marine construction and operations.
An increasingly saturated T&I landscape however, goes beyond resourcing challenges. It has implications on the availability of relevant port and harbour infrastructure, availability of a suitable fleet – construction vessels, support vessels, crew vessels etc. These challenges become more acute depending on the geography, for instance in the USA where the Jones Act places further restrictions on fleet suitability in offshore wind development.
There are also considerations around risk of busy marine environments, mitigating risk early on of delays to or from navigational routes, or of damage to infrastructure caused by shipping routes or other local construction.
As more countries seek to reap the benefits of higher wind resource further offshore, floating wind technology as well as T&I in deeper waters, provide unique challenges from a marine perspective, requiring different facilities and different skills.
The above are just a few of the marine challenges faced across the development cycle of an offshore wind farm. Is it all bad news? No of course not! Where there is challenge – there is also enormous opportunity, which we are already seeing grasped in active offshore wind markets.
For instance, the development of port infrastructure to meet both T&I and future operations & maintenance (O&M) needs for offshore wind, spells great opportunity to local maritime supply chains. There are rumblings of a shipbuilding boom coming up. As for resourcing, the growth of a new market and new technologies means growing opportunities for new generations of marine and technical professionals.
How can we help?
ABL Group has seamlessly combined a deep legacy in marine expertise with cutting-edge renewable energy engineering and technical advisory, since its first foray in the early days of offshore wind dating back to the early 2000s. The combination of our technical and marine specialisation has helped us work on more than 330 offshore wind farms across more than 20 countries worldwide.
We have been providing a comprehensive suite of technical marine and engineering services to support developers and other clients in navigating the marine challenges and value chain involved in offshore wind development, from initial site selection through to construction.
Join us at our stand L50 at Global Offshore Wind 2023, on Wednesday 14th June 15:45, for the launch of the ABL Group marine advisory offering – supporting you in getting the maximum from your offshore wind development by successfully navigating your marine blueprint from site selection through to construction.