PROVIDENCE, R.I. An offshore wind developer is opening a hub in Providence that its executives hope will help accelerate the takeoff of the industry in the United States.

rsted U.S. Offshore Wind, a division of the Denmark-based rsted, will launch its U.S. innovation hub in Providence on Monday. rsted employees will meet at the hub with U.S.-based startups and small companies to discuss early-stage technologies to address issues the industry faces.

rsted could potentially help these companies bring solutions to the market faster to help accelerate and scale the U.S. industry, said Thomas Nygaard Hamann, rsted's head of strategy, digital and innovation.

In essence, a lot of this is really about taking the global know-how that we bring on this industry and connecting that to novel innovation in the U.S., said Hamann, who is based in Copenhagen.

rsted is looking for ways to better monitor the movements of whales near wind farms, and ideas for reducing noise when turbines are installed, for example, Hamann said. Last year, to ensure that its technicians could safely transfer between small boats and offshore wind turbines, rsted signed a deal to invest in the Scottish company Pict Offshore, which had developed a hoist system.

rsted bought Providence-based Deepwater Wind in 2018. Deepwater Wind began operating the first U.S. offshore wind farm off of Block Island, Rhode Island, in late 2016. The U.S. operations for rsted are jointly headquartered in Providence and Boston.

Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo said the hub's opening further cements the state's "status as America's offshore wind capital." Several offshore wind and renewable energy companies have offices in Providence. The state offers tax credits and incentives to lure more of these businesses to Rhode Island, and launched a program in 2018 to train students for offshore wind industry jobs.

It's my hope that this will just keep building on itself, and over time you're going to see, in Rhode Island, more supply chain companies to service the offshore wind farm, more energy storage companies, more undersea mapping technologies, Raimondo said in an interview this week. It's a whole ecosystem and it's starting to build right here.

rsted has federal lease areas in the Northeast and in the mid-Atlantic, where a total of six wind farms are in development. The Northeast wind farms are joint ventures with Eversource.

Driving down the pricing for offshore wind has been, and will continue to be, an important driver of innovation, said Matthew Morrissey, head of Northeast markets for rsted. But, he added, they're looking to evolve every aspect of their business to improve the standardization, safety and overall operation of wind farms, as well as create jobs locally.

The hub will serve as the first point of contact for U.S. companies interested in contracting with rsted. Morrissey said the goal is to make it easy for companies to make a pitch, get clear information and perhaps contracts.

The Danish parent company employs about 6,500 people and reported revenue for the group at 9.1 billion euros (nearly $9.9 billion) in 2019.

rsted considered locating the hub in Boston or Cambridge, but Morrissey said Providence was the clear choice. He noted that many people work in offshore wind or related industries in Rhode Island and that the state is a pioneer in maritime innovation.

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Developer to Open Hub to Grow U.S. Offshore Wind Industry - The New York Times

Plans were unveiled for another giant jack-up vessel for turbine installation as the specialist supply chain needed to support Japans offshore wind ambitions took another step forward.

Contractors PaxOcean Group and Penta-Ocean Construction said the vessel, with a 1,600-tonne crane, a 3,800 sq metre deck and designed by GustoMSC, will be completed in Q3 2022.

Japan is ramping up for significant offshore wind build-out over the next decade, with vessels bearing the countrys flag needed to complete major projects from 2022 onwards.

Japanese energy group JERA earlier this year linked with contracting and engineering specialist Shimizu itself building a major offshore wind installation vessel for possible collaboration at home and abroad, while shipping group NYK and Dutch contractor Van Oord plan to jointly own and operate Japanese-flagged vessels.

Japans parliament in 2019 passed legislation clearing the way for first offshore wind tenders to take place this year to underpin long-term development of the sector, while the government has set a 10GW wind target (onshore and offshore combined) for 2030.

MHI Vestas on Tuesday revealed it had won the OEM sectors first turbine order for a utility-scale offshore wind farm in Japan.

Recharge reported today how total investment in offshore wind power projects in Asia Pacific (APAC) came in at almost double that in Europe in 2019, as the fast-moving emerging market eclipsed the sectors historic heartland for the first time, according to new research from the Renewables Consulting Group (RCG).

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Another giant jack-up vessel to target Japanese offshore wind installations - Recharge

]]> The Maersk Discoverer semi-submersible rig is contracted for drilling an Egyptian well. Credit: Maersk Drilling.

Denmark-based Maersk Drilling has secured a one-well drilling contract for the Maersk Discoverer offshore Egypt, worth $3.8m.

The contract will start this month, lasting 21 days. The semi-submersible rig Maersk Discoverer will carry out operations.

According to the drilling rig operator, the contract is a direct continuation of the rigs current contract.

Maersk Drilling COO Morten Kelstrup said: Were pleased to add this additional well, which firms up Maersk Discoverers schedule for 2020, meaning that the rig will have no idle time before moving to the Caribbean later this year.

When it completes drilling of the additional Egyptian well, the rig will perform its scheduled Special Periodic Survey (SPS). This involves detailed structural investigation and various inspections to the rig. The rig will then move to Trinidad and Tobago.

Delivered in 2009, the Maersk Discoverer is a DSS-21 self-propelled A1 column-stabilised, dynamically positioned deep-water rig. Maersk Drilling received three DSS-21 rigs from Keppel FELS, of which the Discoverer is the second.

The rig can operate in water depths of up to 10,000ft and can drill to a maximum depth of 32,800ft. It features a 15,000psi blowout prevention (BOP) system, dual pipe handling system and Favelle Favco deck crane.

It also features a 3.5t pipe handling knuckle boom crane, four Wirth 14-P-2200 7500psi triplex mud pumps, and can accommodate 180 people.

In January this year, Aker BP awarded a two-well contract extension to Maersk for its Integrator ultra-harsh environment jack-up rig.

In November last year, the company secured a one-well contract for the ultra-harsh environment jack-up rig Maersk Interceptor.

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Maersk Discoverer to drill one-well contract in Egypt - Offshore Technology

Offshore operations are expected to start in 2021.

(Courtesy Subsea 7)

Offshore staff

LUXEMBOURG Murphy Exploration and Production Co. - USA has contracted Subsea 7 to provide the subsea installation services for the Samurai and Khaleesi/Mormont developments in the Green Canyon area of the Gulf of Mexico.

This contract covers the tieback of seven subsea wells to the Kings Quay FPS that will be moored about 175 mi (282 km) south of New Orleans.

The project scope includes engineering, procurement, construction, installation, and commissioning of all subsea equipment including PLETs, PLEMs, umbilicals and distribution hardware, production and export flowlines and jumpers, as well as the wet tow in the Gulf of Mexico to the fields and mooring system installation of the semisubmersible FPS.

Project management and engineering will start immediately at its offices in Houston. Fabrication of the flowlines and risers will take place at the companys spoolbase in Ingleside, Texas, with offshore operations occurring in 2021.

Craig Broussard, vice president for Subsea 7 US, said: Subsea 7 will provide a single point contract for the SURF and mooring work scopes on this project, which allows for improved management of the interface risk.

03/03/2020

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Subsea 7 to engineer Murphy's deepwater Gulf of Mexico tiebacks - Offshore Oil and Gas Magazine

Schedule calls for next 1,200-MW offshore wind solicitation to be opened by this September, with an award made by the second quarter of 2021.

By 2035, New Jersey will have enough offshore wind turbines to power more than 3 million homes in the state and provide at least half of the electricity it needs.

At least that is the aggressive schedule the Murphy administration laid out last week to hold offshore wind solicitations every other year, from the third quarter of 2020 until the beginning of 2028.

If successful, the state will put in place 7,500 megawatts of offshore wind capacity, a goal Gov. Phil Murphy announced last November in an executive order to hit that target in just 15 years.

By announcing this planned solicitation schedule, we are demonstrating to our partners in industry and labor that we are committed to implementing this project in a thoughtful way that ensures economic growth for New Jersey, Murphy said in a press release his office issued Friday.

rsted operates the only offshore wind farm in the United States, a relatively small project three miles off Block Island in Rhode Island. The company also has rights to develop a 1,100-MW offshore wind farm about 15 miles off Atlantic City as the winner of New Jerseys first solicitation last year.

New Jersey opened the largest single-state solicitation. [rsted] is building a supply chain that will support projects up and down the east coast and is poised to double our offshore wind capacity, said New Jersey Board of Public Utilities president Joseph Fiordaliso.

The proposed schedule calls for the next 1,200-MW solicitation to be opened by this September, with an award made by the second quarter of 2021. Setting a solicitation schedule through 2035 provides a crucial level of certainty for developers, original equipment manufacturers and the supply chain.

So far, however, the economic benefits of developing a robust supply chain a goal of states up and down the Eastern Seaboard have yet to materialize in New Jersey. But an aggressive commitment to offshore wind is evident by the new schedule the governor laid out, according to clean energy advocates.

This is really important, said Doug OMalley, director of Environment New Jersey. Its putting a calendar to the aspirations of the Governors goals. Theres no other state in the nation who has a solicitation locked in over the next decade or so.

To be responsive to the evolving market, the schedule has been developed to provide flexibility in terms of the amount being procured with each solicitation and the exact timeline, according to the Governors Office.

It cited a number of factors that could influence the timing and quantity to be procured, including transmission solutions and development schedule, the status of additional lease areas, permitting, port readiness, establishment of a supply chain, workforce training and cost trends.

The last factor is probably one of the biggest challenges, with much of the cost of offshore wind, grid modernization and a new way of financing solar projects likely to fall upon utility customers, who will mostly shoulder the burden of financing the clean energy transformation.

rsted, which won the states first offshore wind project, is projected to have it in commercial operation by 2024. According to the projected schedule, it will take at least five years from awarding of contracts to build the offshore wind farm.

Another issue the state faces is a proposal from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission that would increase costs for cleaner energy, such as solar and offshore wind, under regulatory changes the agency is considering. Earlier this year, Fiordaliso warned the proposal could harm many of the states clean energy initiatives.

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Offshore Wind Power for 3 Million NJ Homes by 2035 Is Murphys Aim - NJ Spotlight

The PB3 PowerBuoy integrates patented technologies in hydrodynamics, electronics, energy conversion, and computer control systems to extract the natural energy in ocean waves.

(Courtesy Ocean Power Technologies Inc.)

Offshore staff

MONROE TOWNSHIP, New Jersey Eni has extended its lease of Ocean Power Technologies Inc.s PB3 PowerBuoy for an additional 18 months.

Following more than one year of continuous maintenance-free operation as part of an AUV charging pilot project offshore Italy in the Adriatic Sea, the leased PB3 PowerBuoy will be redeployed to provide power to systems on an unmanned, decommissioned gas production platform.

The offshore platform conversion project is exploring the potential of future ecologically sustainable life-extension strategies for oil and gas platforms at the end of their productive phase. The project will assess the value of the platform to the ecosystem if left in place, as well as the viability of integrated aquaculture farming, recreational, and other uses.

The system will be relocated off Italys Abruzzo region coastline in July 2020.

Deployed in December 2018, the PB3 PowerBuoy has demonstrated its capability as a charging and communications platform to enable the long-term remote operation of Enis Clean Sea AUV, the company said. Since being deployed it has produced more than two megawatt hours (2 MWh) of electricity.

03/03/2020

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Eni to redeploy wave power system in the Adriatic Sea - Offshore Oil and Gas Magazine

While President Donald Trump's administration was working to relax offshore drilling regulations, there was a spike in offshore accidents and a decrease in safety inspections, according an analysis by the Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank.

The Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcementthe federal agency tasked with regulating offshore drillinghas not yet released a tally of offshore incident statistics for 2019. But the Center for American Progress dug through the agency'sbudget documents to find thenumber of injuries per hour worked on oil and gas facilities on the federal Outer Continental Shelf.

American Progress found that the rateof injuries increased 21% in 2018 and 2019 compared with the previous two-year period of 2016 and 2017.The data includes injuries that require medical treatment beyond first aid. It excludes those stemming from natural causes, illness or that are self-inflicted, according to the budget documents.

"At worst, this is an unraveling of safety gains made after Deepwater Horizon," the catastrophic BP spill of 2010, saidMatt Lee-Ashley,a senior fellow at American Progress.

Last month, theWall Street Journal reportedthat BSEE Director Scott Angelle a former Louisiana state official and 2015 gubernatorial candidate asked his staff to make changes to the Well Control Rule, a new protocol imposed after the 2010 disaster aimed at reducingthe likelihood of a recurrence. Angelle's changes were meant to cut down on the cost of compliance for the energy industry, and he made them despite advice from BSEE engineers that the changes were unsafe.

The rate of offshore injuries was trending downward between 2015 and 2017. But there was a sharp uptick in accidents in 2018. The injury rate is calculated based on the number of injuries per 200,000 hours worked, which includes operator and contractor hours worked for production, construction and drilling operations on the Outer Continental Shelf, an area that includes the Gulf of Mexico.

While there were fewer accidents in 2019 than in 2018, the incidents in 2019 may have been more serious. In February, the BSEE reported that there was one fatality in 2018. While the agency has not released the number of fatalities in 2019, local media reports indicate there were at least nine offshore oil worker deaths, according to an analysis by The Times-Picayune. That would mean at least 8% of the injuries reported in 2019 were fatalities.

Last March, a helicopter destined for an offshore platform crashed near Galliano. A pilot and a Houma-area oilfield worker were on board. Neither survived.

In April, anAbbeville man fell off a platform in the Gulf of Mexico. A 24-hour search ensued, but he was never found.

In May and June, four people died after falling from three different offshore platform decks. The BSEE sent out a safety alert in early June after the first two deaths.

In December,Panther Helicopters Inc., based in Belle Chasse,reported that one of its helicopters did not reach its destination to an offshore platform. A search for the two people on board was eventually suspended.

The number of offshore worker fatalities in 2019 is more than the previous five years combined. From 2014 to 2017, the BSEE reported one fatality in each fiscal year.

"If this pattern of tragedies and accidents isn't a wake-up call to Director Angelle and the Interior Department, I don't know what is,"Lee-Ashley said."By weakening safety rules and cutting back on enforcement, the Trump administration is gambling with peoples' lives and with the health of the Gulf Coast. It's reckless, wrong and there needs to be an immediate reckoning."

In 2017, Trump issued an executive order directing the BSEE to reexamine the Well Control Rule. The order also directed the bureau to find ways to encourage energy exploration and production on the Outer Continental Shelf an area that extends more than 200 miles offshore -- and to reduce unnecessary regulation without sacrificing safety or environmental protection.

Among the changes to the Well Control Rule were the removal of certain requirements for real-time monitoring of offshore operations by onshore engineers; an extension of the date by which blowout preventers must comply with certain requirements; and an avenue for companies to more easily obtain waivers from meeting the minimum "safe drilling margin," a measure designed to reduce the risk of sudden changes in well pressure that could cause a blowout. The changes went into effect in September of 2018 and May 2019.

In addition to a recent increase in offshore injuries, American Progress found a decrease in the number of trips to offshore facilities for inspections and a decline in enforcement actions against offshore oil and gas operators. BSEE conducted nearly 2,000 fewer visits to offshore facilities for inspections between 2017 and 2019 than the previous three-year period, according to agency data, a decline of 13%. Over the same time period, enforcement actions against offshore oil and gas operators dropped by 38%.

The BSEE responded to the American Progress findings by saying that while the number of inspection visits has decreased, the number of inspections per visit has increased. A drop in the number of visits to facilities can, in part, be explained by a decrease in the number of active offshore facilities, according to the agency. "BSEE views an increase in total inspections conducted coupled with a decrease in enforcement actions within a specified time frame, which is what occurred in 2017 and 2018, as an increase in compliance," said BSEE spokeswoman Karla Marshall.

The BSEE expects to release the incident statistics for 2019 by the end of March, Marshall said. The Louisiana Mid-Continent Oil and Gas Association declined to answer questions for this story, instead issuing a prepared statement.

The safety of our operations, our workers and our community is a top priority for Louisianas oil and natural gas industry, and thanks to new initiatives and technologies our offshore energy industry has never been safer or stronger," said LMOGA President Tyler Gray. "Industry standards, modern technology, innovation and experience working under the oversight of state and federal officials have made offshore development safer than it has ever been and continuously becoming safer because technologies are ever-improving.

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Offshore oil and gas accidents and fatalities increase amid regulatory rollbacks - NOLA.com

TenneT TSO B.V. and Iv-Offshore & Energy B.V. have signed a contract for the Front End Engineering and Design (FEED) of the first 525kV offshore grid connection.

The FEED is part of the development of a new standard design for two 2GW network connections to the IJmuiden Ver wind farms.

The two High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) platforms located in the Dutch North Sea will be the first HVDC platforms in the world to be based on 525kV.

Approximately 160 wind turbines are expected to be connected to each platform.

The platform design from Iv-Offshore & Energy will contribute to a new standard for the future 2GW HVDC platforms from TenneT.

The large capacity and the fact that this offshore technology has never been applied before is what makes this project unique. During the entire design process, trade-offs will be made with regard to the lowest Levelized Costs of Energy (LCOE) and improving nature (nature inclusive design), the company said.

In addition to social cost benefits, it is also the intention that the natural world can benefit from this project, too. Environmental measures have been integrated as basic conditions in the design criteria of the HVDC platforms.

Ultimately, a design that keeps the social costs of sustainable electricity affordable, whilst at the same time contributing to the enhancement of the natural environment must be brought to the table. For example, the possibility of constructing a fish hotel is being investigated.

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Iv-Offshore & Energy Joins IJmuiden Ver Grid Connection Team - Offshore WIND

Bernhard Schulte's latest offshore wind newbuild an Ulstein SX195 built by Ulstein Verft, will be named Windea Jules Verne. The vessels name is after one of the world's most popular science fiction adventure writers, who was born in Nantes where GEs Offshore Wind business is located. The vessel will work for GE at the Merkur wind farm.

The hull of the 93.4m vessel was built at the Crist Shipyard in Poland before it was floated out in September 2019 and towed to the Ulstein yard in Norway for the final outfitting.

Its design is modified to fulfil the GE Renewable Energy tender requirements and the ship owners special choices of mission equipment.

Windea Jules Verne has a large, centrally positioned walk to work motion compensated gangway and elevator tower for personnel and cargo transfers. It also features a 3D compensated crane capable of 2-tonne cargo lifts. The optimised on-board logistics includes large storage capacities, of which half is under roof in a controlled environment, and stepless approach to the offshore installations. The vessel is equipped with a fuel-efficient drive system including battery solution. With all main equipment and operations in the aft ship, the vessel will normally operate astern while in-field. Keeping the X-STERN towards the weather, there will be no slamming, noise or vibrations caused by the waves.

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Offshore wind vessel named after sci-fi writer - ShipInsight

PHUKET: Two Russian women on holiday in Phuket were rescued some three kilometres from Karon Beach yesterday afternoon (Mar 2) after the women were blown offshore on pink inflatable rings at Freedom Beach earlier in the day.

The two women were rescued floating on the inflatable rings some three kilometres offshore from Karon. Photo: Karon Marine Safety Center

Kittisak Intharuang of Karon Municipalitys Marine Safety Center told The Phuket News that he was notified of the womens predicament at 2:30pm after a tour guide at Freedom Beach raised the alarm with local Tourist Police.

Officers from the Marine Safety Center together with lifeguards launched a search for the two women, who Kittisak identified only as Mariia, 25, and Ksenia, 27.

It took around one hour, but they found the two tourists in the sea about three kilometres from shore, Mr Kittisak said.

They were safely brought back to the beach, and Tourist Police took them to their hotel in Patong, he added.

Mr Kittisak urged all beachgoers to be wary of drifting too far from shore while playing on inflatables at the beach.

If youre not careful, the wind can blow you too far to get back to the beach by yourself, he said.

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Russian tourists rescued after blown offshore on inflatable rings - The Phuket News

Belgium experienced recordbreaking wind energy production in February 2020 with increased capacitycoming online in the North Sea. According to the Belgian Offshore Platform(BOP), 804 GWh was produced which corresponds to the annual consumptionof 230,000 households.

The installed capacity of offshore wind in North Sea increased this monthby 60 MW, due to the commissioning of the first wind turbines at the Northwester2 offshorewind farm. Overall capacity increased from 1556 to 1616 MW. Compared toFebruary 2019, installed capacity increased by 430 MW, or 36.5%. This included370 MW from Northerand 60 MW for Northwester2.

Wind conditions also lent a hand in increasing production. The averagecapacity factor in February 2020 was 74% compared to the previous recordset at 70% in December 2015. Over the last five years, the average capacityfactor for February was 53%. BOP stated that with a capacity factor of53%, a production of 570 GWh can be expected production in Februarywas therefore approximately 40% higher this year than expected accordingto the five-year average.

Belgium plans to have installed 2.3 GW of offshore wind power by the endof 2020 at is on track to meet this target with the construction of theNorthwester2, Mermaidand Seastarprojects underway. Tenders for additional capacity are expected to be launchedfrom 2023.

The BOP is a non-profit association of investors and owners of wind farmsin the Belgian part of the North Sea. It was founded in 2011 to advocatethe development of wind energy in the Belgian waters of the North Sea.

For more information on offshore windfarms worldwide, clickhere.

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Record-breaking wind production in Belgium - 4C Offshore

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) The Netherlands will fund a program to train Taiwanese in the field of offshore wind energy, a rapidly developing industry on the island that is part of the governments effort to promote green energy.

More than 30 Dutch enterprises have been drawn to Taiwan towards the offshore wind farms to be developed in the coming decades, but they all face [a] shortage of talents, said Guy Wittich, representative of the Netherlands Trade and Investment Office in Taiwan, on Monday (Mar. 2) at the programs kick-off ceremony in Taipei.

Although some Dutch companies decided to cancel their trips to Taiwan this time over concerns of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), our determination to help Taiwan cultivate talents is not deterred, with the support from companies such as Van Oord, Boskalis, Damen, and IHC IQIP, he added.

A total of 20 seed talents in the initial stage of the program will be trained in maritime engineering, data analysis, and the operation and maintenance of offshore wind farms. The program is funded by the Dutch government and designed by Dutch universities and institutes, such as the Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research, Delft University of Technology, and water research institute Deltares, in partnership with their Taiwanese counterparts.

Since signing a memorandum of understanding on energy innovation in September 2015, Taiwan and the Netherlands have exchanged several high-level official visits and held a number of bilateral meetings, remarked Weng Su-chen (), secretary-general of the Ministry of Economic Affairs' Bureau of Energy. Talent incubation is the most crucial area of cooperation between the two countries as Taiwan strives to develop its offshore energy, she said.

This program of Train the Trainers will include courses such as seabed analysis, turbine design, installation of offshore wind turbines, and operation and maintenance, said Chiang Mao-Hsiung (), director of National Taiwan Universitys Energy Research Center. We welcome all trainers from academia and the businesses sector to establish a platform with us, said Chiang, who will lead the program.

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Netherlands to fund program to train offshore... - Taiwan News

The installation vessel Innovation will deploy the subsea drill at the Saint-Nazaire offshore wind farm in France.

(Courtesy DEME)

Offshore staff

ZWIJNDRECHT, Belgium DEME Offshore and Herrenknecht have agreed to build a subsea drill that will be deployed at the Saint-Nazaire offshore wind farm in France.

This is said to be the first wind farm to use drilled XL-monopile foundations.

In 2019, a consortium including DEME Offshore and Eiffage Mtal was awarded the EPCI contract for 80 foundations for the French wind farm. The scope includes the design, fabrication, transportation, and installation of the steel foundations.

The 480-MW Saint-Nazaire offshore wind farm, owned by EDF Renewables and Enbridge, will be located between 12 km and 20 km (7.5 mi and 12 mi) off the coast of the Gurande peninsula in western France.

The XL-monopile foundations have to be installed on a difficult rocky seabed. The companies are fabricating a subsea drill specifically for the project. The subsea drill will be deployed from DEME Offshores installation vessel Innovation.

Bart De Poorter, general manager of DEME Offshore, said: Installing drilled XL-monopiles is a new step forward in the offshore wind industry.

Ulrich Schaffhauser, member of the board of management of Herrenknecht AG, added: The offshore foundation drilling enables mechanized installation of monopiles, thus providing ecological and economic advantages compared to conventional methods.

02/12/2020

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Innovation to deploy subsea drill at French offshore wind farm - Offshore Oil and Gas Magazine

Union GMB Scotland has accused the UK government of washing its hands of the responsibility to deliver local offshore wind jobs.

The workers group was responding to comments made by Scottish Secretary Alister Jack (pictured) who told parliament on Wednesday that fabrication taking place overseas is the market economy.

Jack was addressing a question about the fabrication in Indonesia of jacket foundations for EDF Renewables 450MW Neart na Gaoithe wind farm.

He also said the UK needs to find a better way of efficiently delivering offshore wind components.

GMB Scotland organiser Hazel Nolan said: Alister Jack has unwittingly revealed the truth: the UK government has washed their hands of their responsibility to deliver renewables jobs here in the UK.

Far from the market economy, what we are seeing is yards here in the UK being abandoned by our government and left to compete with heavily state subsidised yards abroad.

The Scottish and UK governments have failed to produce an industrial strategy to match the rhetoric on green jobs and its energy consumers here in the UK that are propping up this rigged market with spiralling energy bills.

EDF Renewables UK chief executive Matthieu Huesaid:We dont recognise many of the statistics being quoted here. However, only this week, we have outlined details of four supply chain events to be held in Scotland at which Scottish companies will be introduced to the Tier 1 contractors for Neart na Gaoithe."

He added: "We are committed to generating as much work as possible here in Scotland. The full extent of the benefit to the Scottish supply chain will become clear once all Tier 2 and Tier 3 contracts have been awarded.

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UK has 'washed its hands' of offshore jobs - reNEWS

NEW LONDON, Conn. (WTNH) Improvements to the state pier in New London are going forward. Governor Ned Lamont says the project will bring more jobs and a world-class offshore wind center.

Governor Lamont announced Tuesday the state and its partners at Gateway Terminal, Orsted and Eversource, have reached a final agreement on a harbor development plan for the state pier in New London through a combined public-private investment of $157 million.

We got to think about a renewable carbon free future and wind power is our future, said Governor Ned Lamont.

Connecticut can be the Saudi Arabia of wind power, offshore wind generating power in a cost, very economical with everything else, at a price thats coming down dramatically.

This pier allows us to greatly accelerate maritime traffic in and out, interconnecting the rail service coming in.

The governor said the project will expand the use of carbon-free energy sources.

Danish-based company, Orsted, has built offshore wind centers around the globe.

Thomas Brostrom, the CEO of Orsted, told News 8, It basically takes a lot of fossil fuels away and replaces fossil fuels. It is as clean as you get. It basically harvests the strong winds that you see at sea and you bring them to shore.

The project will create hundreds of permanent jobs and is planned to become a transportation hub for companies. The first phase of the project will be infrastructure upgrades.

There will be a lot of transportation. A lot of the vessels will be coming out of there, supplies coming out of there so we see a lot of other needs.

Whether it is catering transportation needs, we are going to do some dredging there and of course port enhancements for a vessel that will be 500 feet long, 150 wide.

Construction is expected to begin in early 2021 and be completed by August 2022.

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State pier project to bring more jobs, offshore wind center to New London - WTNH.com

]]> Petrofac will control licensing of the data hub tool in the North Sea. Credit: Petrofac Limited.

Oil and gas service provider Petrofac has signed a deal with drilling technology company MODS for exclusive use of a data hub for project planning within the UK continental shelf.

MODS developed its Virtual Manager Experience product as a multi-purpose management hub. In a statement, the company said it has documented productivity increases of 20-70%.

Petrofac will be the only engineering, procurement and construction contractor to have use of it on the UK shelf. A spokesperson said the company would offer the system to all Petrofac clients there.

The VME enables materials tracking using QR codes or radio frequency tags, and can assemble document packs for teams. It incorporates 3D modelling of the integrity of bolt or compression joints, a progress tracker, scheduling manager and a tool for project handovers.

A spokesperson for Petrofac told Offshore Technology: Traditionally the industry manages project processes with paper-based drawings, procedures and reporting.

VME changes the goalposts by providing our teams with a single device where all information can be accessed and reported on in real-time, significantly reducing the administration burden and importantly allowing our supervision teams to spend more time in the field on value-adding activities.

[The system] is by far the most advanced and mature product of its type that has been proven internationally on both brownfield and greenfield projects, and will form the backbone of our offshore projects offering.

The company added onshore operations would improve and the technology would increase its ability to report on project delivery readiness.

Petrofac Engineering and Production Services COO John Pearson said: By thinking differently about service delivery and combining decades of engineering, construction and operations know-how with the latest digital technology, such as VME, were generating cost efficiencies and increased productivity for our clients, across the life-cycle of projects.

MODS CEO Jon Bell said: This exciting new partnership with Petrofac will push boundaries and help the UKCS move into a new era of efficiency and innovation. Virtual Manager Enterprise was first developed in the North Sea, so its great to see it return to the region.

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Petrofac and MODS partner on project management tool - Offshore Technology

DEMEOffshore and Herrenknecht have signed an agreement for the fabricationof a subsea drill to be deployed at the Saint-Nazaireoffshore wind farm in France. This is the first wind farm in the worldto use drilled XL-monopile foundations.

In 2019, a consortium including DEME Offshore and Eiffage Mtal was awardedan Engineering, Procurement, Construction, Installation (EPCI) contractfor 80 foundations for the French wind farm. The scope includes the design,fabrication, transportation and installation of the steel foundations.

The XL-monopile foundations have to be installed on a rocky seabed. DEMEOffshore and Herrenknecht are fabricating an innovative tailormade subseadrill specifically for the project. The subsea drill will be deployed fromDEME Offshores installation vessel Innovation.

Installing drilled XL-monopiles is a new step forward in the offshorewind industry, says Bart De Poorter, General Manager DEME Offshore.With this innovative solution, developed in partnership with Herrenknecht,we ensure that the installation is performed safely and efficiently inchallenging marine conditions.

The Offshore Foundation Drilling (OFD) enables mechanised installationof monopiles, thus providing ecological and economic advantages comparedto conventional methods, says Ulrich Schaffhauser, Member of theBoard of Management of Herrenknecht AG. We are proud, that DEME relieson Herrenknechts solution, expertise and know-how in the field of excavationtechnology. The project teams of DEME and Herrenknecht cooperated verywell, now we all are looking forward to project realisation.

The 480 MW Saint-Nazaireoffshore wind farm will be located between 12 km and 20 km off the coastof the Guerande peninsula in western France. Water depths at the site rangebetween 12 and 25 metres. The project is expected to generate enough electricityto supply 20% of the Loire-Atlantique department's power.It being developedby Eolien Maritime France (EMF), a project company co-owned by EDF EnergiesNouvelles Group and Enbridge.

For more information on offshore wind farms development, clickhere.Alternatively, you can view projects across the globe using 4C Offshore'sinteractivemap.

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DEME and Herrenknecht ink drill agreement - 4C Offshore

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By The Maritime Executive 02-09-2020 05:14:27

Europe installed a record 3.6GW of new offshore wind capacity in 2019, according to statistics released by WindEurope.

10 new offshore wind farms came online across five countries. The U.K. accounted for nearly half of the new capacity with 1.7GW, followed by Germany (1.1GW), Denmark (374MW) and Belgium (370MW). Portugal installed 8MW of floating offshore wind.

Europe now has 22GW of offshore wind. The U.K. and Germany account for three-quarters of it. Denmark, Belgium and the Netherlands share nearly all of the rest.

The average size of the offshore turbines installed last year was 7.8MW. A 12MW offshore wind turbine was installed in Rotterdam.

The average size of offshore wind farms has increased from 300MW in 2010 to over 600MW. The largest is Hornsea 1 in the U.K. 1.2 GW.

The launch of the new Portuguese floating project WindFloat Atlantic, funded by the E.U.s NER300 program, means Europe now has 45MW of floating offshore wind. France, the U.K., Norway and Portugal are all developing new floating projects. France plans to auction a large-scale floating wind farm in 2021.

Offshore wind costs continue to fall significantly. Last years auctions in the U.K., France and the Netherlands delivered prices for consumers in the range of 40-50/MWh ($44-55). This is cheaper than building new gas, coal or nuclear.

2019 also saw investment decisions in four new offshore wind farms, representing 1.4GW in capacity and 6 billion ($6.6 billion) in investments.

The European Commission says Europe needs between 230 and 450GW of offshore wind by 2050 to decarbonise the energy system and deliver the Green Deal. This requires Europe to build 7GW of new offshore wind a year by 2030 and ramp up to 18GW a year by 2050. The current level of new installations and investments would not meet that.

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Europe Installed Record 3.6GW of Offshore Wind in 2019 - The Maritime Executive

The subsea supply chain is gaining increasing work from the offshore wind sector as the North Sea takes the lead on cleaner energy projects, while oil and gas operators continue to rein in spending, according to consultancy Wood Mackenzie.

Speaking at the Subsea Expo in Aberdeen on Tuesday, Mhairidh Evans, principal analyst for the upstream supply chain at WoodMac, said: The subsea market picked up significantly in 2018, after a 20-year global low for new contracts in 2016.

The North Sea was a big part of that recovery with almost 30% of new subsea wells sanctioned in 2018 and 2019 being in the UK or Norway, Evans said.

However, as oil and gas operators continue to rein in spending, WoodMac expects 2020 to be flat due to a gap in the chain between supply and demand.

That means we may yet see more consolidation in the supply chain, Evans added.

She warned the industry not to bank on a new oil and gas upcycle because past levels of activity and spend are no longer relevant.

The future of offshore will be shaped by brand-new forces such as digitalisation and decarbonisation. The most successful companies will be those who rip up the reference book and adapt to change quickly, Evans said.

The oil and gas market remains by far the largest sector for the subsea supply chain today, but offshore wind is starting a big growth trajectory, she added.

WoodMac forecasts investment in offshore wind will more than double between now and 2025 to reach 45 billion ($49.2 billion) per year and expects much of this investment to be in Europe.

There are opportunities all across the subsea supply chain in offshore wind, and it is turning the heads of many of the industrys biggest players, Evans said.

Recently, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said offshore wind investments stand to grow and could attract about $1 trillion by 2040.

The Paris-based agency said that due to the expected growth in the clean energy sector, the oil and gas industry could be staring at a $400 billion business opportunity through synergies over the next two decades.

IEA analysis found that offshore wind capacity in the European Union stands at almost 20 gigawatts and is set to rise to between 130GW and 180GW by 2040.

China could also be set to play a major role in offshore winds long-term growth, because farms can be built off the major population centres spread around its east and south.

By around 2025, China is likely to have the largest offshore wind fleet of any country, overtaking the UK, the IEA report said.

Chinas offshore wind capacity is set to rise from 4GW today to 110GW by 2040, but policies designed to meet global sustainable energy goals could push that even higher to above 170GW, the IEA said.

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Subsea supply chain taking on more offshore wind work - Upstream Online

Danish engineering services company ISC Consulting Engineers has won a contract to design the offshore substation for the Mayflower Wind offshore wind project in the USA.

Back in January, Bladt Industries and Semco Maritime secured a contract to fabricate and deliver the offshore substation for the project located approximately 40 kilometers south of Nantucket, Massachusetts.

As a sub-contractor to Bladt Industries, ISC will perform the engineering design works together with Semco Maritime and the US partner WSP.

The offshore substation will consist of a topside of 4,400 tons and a 3,000-ton jacket foundation.

The EPC scope is to be delivered by Bladt Industries and Semco Maritime and comprises engineering by ISC and Semco, procurement and construction works, including steel structure and jacket foundation by Bladt Industries, as well as design, procurement and installation of electrical equipment, auxiliary systems, and inter-array cables by Semco Maritime.

The offshore substation is scheduled for delivery from Bladt Industries site in Denmark in 2024.

The Mayflower Wind project has been chosen by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to supply 804MW of offshore wind capacity with the expected start-up in 2025.

The project is being developed by Mayflower Wind Energy LLC, a joint venture of Shell New Energies US and EDPR Offshore North America.

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ISC and WSP Join Mayflower Wind Offshore Substation Roster - Offshore WIND