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Thursday, March 28, 2024
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Offshore Wind News

27 Mar 2024

New England Offshore Wind Auction Draws Multiple Bidders

Ā© Fokke Baarssen / Adobe Stock

Several offshore wind developers bid in a combined Connecticut-Massachusetts-Rhode Island offshore wind solicitation on Wednesday, including units of European energy firms Iberdrola and Orsted.The U.S. offshore wind industry is booming so far this year, with several projects in various stages of development and construction, after a disastrous 2023 of developers cancelling contracts and taking roughly $9.1 billion in write-offs and impairments on U.S. projects.So far, Avangridā€¦

27 Mar 2024

Cadeler Signs Wind Turbine Installation Contract Worth Up to $150M

(Credit: Cadeler)

Danish offshore wind installation firm Cadeler has signed a contract to provide its vessel Wind Scylla for the installation of offshore wind turbines for an undisclosed client.The contract is valued between $75 million and $150 million, including both the firm period and potential options.The installation work is set to start in 2025 with Wind Scylla vessel, according to Cadeler.During the project duration, spanning between 300 and 550 days, the client will utilize Cadelerā€™s teamā€¦

27 Mar 2024

Strategic Marine to Build CTV for Polish Offshore Wind Industry

Illustration (Credit: BMT/Strategic Marine)

LOTOS Petrobaltic, an ORLEN Group company, signed a contract for the construction of a Crew Transfer Vessel (CTV) with Singapore-based Strategic Marine, set for service in the Polish offshore wind market.The StratCat 27 CTV is scheduled to be completed this summer, with delivery to Europe planned for early September 2024.This CTV will join the existing fleet managed by Miliana Shipmanagement Limited, a company belonging to the LOTOS Petrobaltic capital group, which owns five offshoreā€¦

26 Mar 2024

US Approves Orsted's Sunrise Wind Offshore Wind Farm

Ā© chungking / Adobe Stock

The Biden administration on Tuesday gave final approval to Orsted and Eversource's Sunrise Wind offshore wind facility, which is expected to provide power to more than 320,000 homes in New York.The announcement was the latest positive development for the project, which Denmark's Orsted warned just months ago could fail without a new contract that would cover soaring costs for equipment and financing.Orsted and Eversource said separately that they had taken a final investment decisionā€¦

25 Mar 2024

Surface Effect Ship Designed for Crew Transfer Vessels

Source: Strategic Marine

ESNA and Strategic Marine have signed an agreement to develop a SES CTV (Surface Effect Ship Crew Transfer Vessel) for offshore wind applications.According to Wikipedia, a surface effect ship or sidewall hovercraft is a watercraft that has both an air cushion, like a hovercraft, and twin hulls, like a catamaran.The vessel type offers the combination of higher speed, increased operational wave height and reduced fuel oil consumption.The plan is to start building the first offshoreā€¦

25 Mar 2024

BOEM Announces Review of Proposed Vineyard Northeast Project

Source: BOEM

The US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) will initiate an environmental review of Vineyard Northeastā€™s proposed offshore wind energy project, located 29 miles offshore Nantucket, Massachusetts at its closest point. BOEM estimates the proposed project would generate up to 2,600MW of electricity, enough to power more than 900,000 homes with clean renewable energy. The approximately 132,370-acre Lease Area is located some 29 miles (mi) from Nantucket and approximately 39 mi offshore Marthaā€™s Vineyardā€¦

25 Mar 2024

US Revises Tax Credit Rule to Help Offshore Wind Projects

Ā© Kruwt / Adobe Stock

The Biden administration on Friday released new rules that will make it easier for offshore wind developers to claim a subsidy for facilities planned in areas that have historically relied on fossil fuel industries for employment.The revision follows nearly a year of warnings by offshore wind companies that their projects might not move forward without access to certain subsidies in President Joe Biden's landmark climate change law, the Inflation Reduction Act.Offshore wind is a critical part of Biden's plan to decarbonize the U.S.

24 Mar 2024

German Wind Sector Welcomes Offshore Terminal Funding

Ā© Fokke Baarssen / Adobe Stock

The German Offshore Wind Energy Foundation said the government's decision to help fund the expansion of an offshore terminal is important to achieve expansion goals for wind energy at sea.In a statement late Friday, the foundation said it welcomed a government move to contribute to the costs of expanding the terminal at the port of Cuxhaven, on the North Sea coast.The government has agreed to finance the 30-hectare (74 acres) expansion of the offshore terminal, together with the state of Lower Saxony and the private port industryā€¦

21 Mar 2024

Euroports and BlueFloat Forge Strategic Offshore Wind Alliance

(Credit: BlueFloat Energy)

One of the largest port-infrastructure companies Euroports and Spanish offshore wind developer BlueFloat Energy have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to foster cooperation in supply chain and ports infrastructure for the delivery of offshore wind in Europe.The strategic alliance marks a significant step forward in building capabilities and infrastructure critical to establish an offshore wind energy sector.Euroports, with its distinguished reputation as a premier offshore wind port operatorā€¦

19 Mar 2024

Worldā€™s First Floating Wind Innovation Centre Opens

Source: ORE Catapult

The worldā€™s first dedicated innovation centre for floating offshore wind has opened in Scotland.Located in the heart of Aberdeenā€™s Energy Transition Zone, ORE Catapultā€™s £9 million National Floating Wind Innovation Centre (FLOWIC), delivered in collaboration with ETZ Limited, is designed to help supercharge the development of floating offshore wind technology in the UK, with funding from both the Scottish Government and Innovate UK.Floating offshore wind represents a huge economic opportunityā€¦

19 Mar 2024

RWE Joins Forces with Spanish Port to Create Floating Wind Hub

Ā© Tjeerd / Adobe Stock

Germany's top utility RWE has signed a Letter of Support with the Port Authority of A Coruña to facilitate the scaling-up of the port capacity in support of the Spanish governmentā€™s floating wind targets.Working together under a Letter of Support, the partners will investigate the potential for transforming infrastructure at the Port of Coruña, in northwest Spain, into a logistic hub for the marshalling, assembly and deployment of major components for commercial-scale floatingā€¦

18 Mar 2024

Liquid Hydrogen SOV Concept Unveiled

(Image: Louis Dreyfus Armateurs)

Louis Dreyfus Armateurs (LDA) has unveiled a concept for a first-of-its kind service operations vessel (SOV) that runs on liquid hydrogen.The French-headquartered company said it has been working alongside Norwegian naval architecture firm Salt Ship Design as well as main equipment suppliers, fuel providers, class and flag authorities, and others to produce the conceptā€”with support from the European Commission.The groundbreaking SOV, currently in the concept design phase, would be able to operate 95% of the time with zero carbon emissions, only releasing water during standard operations.

18 Mar 2024

Boskalis Wraps Up Moray West Offshore Wind Farm Ops

(Credit: Boskalis)

Dutch marine services firm Boskalis has completed its activities in support of the development of Ocean Windsā€™ 882 MW Moray West offshore wind farm in Scotland.As part of its multidisciplinary role in the project, Boskalis deployed six vessels to carry out large number of activities off the east coast of Scotland in the Moray Firth.First, Boskalisā€™ wholly-owned subsidiary Gardline carried out extensive geotechnical and geophysical survey works prior to the installation work.Thenā€¦

18 Mar 2024

Esvagt Picks Brunvoll Propulsion for New SOV

(Credit: Hav)

Norwegian firm Brunvoll has been selected as a supplier of the propulsion and maneuvering system for one of Esvagtā€™s new offshore wind service operation vessels (SOV).Esvagtā€™s new SOV will be controlled by Brunvollā€™s propulsion and thruster control system, BruCon PTC.The vessel will be outfitted with two azimuth propulsion thrusters, two retractable azimuth thrusters, and a tunnel thruster.Once completed, the new vessel will enter operation for Vestas on the Hollandse Kust West VI wind farm in the North Sea. The wind farm will feature 54 wind turbines and can deliver 760 MW.

17 Mar 2024

BOEM Starts Environmental Review of Proposed Wind Project off New Jersey

Source: BOEM

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) will initiate the environmental review of a proposed wind energy project offshore New Jersey.At its closest point, the approximately 81,129-acre lease area, OCS-A 0549, known as Atlantic Shores North, is located 8.4 miles from the New Jersey coast and approximately 60 miles from New York.The Atlantic Shoresā€™ proposal currently includes installation of up to 157 wind turbine generators, eight offshore substations, one permanent meteorological tower, and two temporary metocean buoys - for a total of up to 168 offshore structures.

17 Mar 2024

BOEM Finalizes Wind Energy Area in the Gulf of Maine

Source: BOEM

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) has finalized its designation of a Wind Energy Area (WEA) in the Gulf of Maine. The Final WEA has the potential to support generation of 32GW of clean energy, surpassing current state goals for offshore wind energy in the Gulf of Maine: 10GW for Massachusetts and 3GW for Maine. The WEA totals about two million acres offshore Maine, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire, ranging from approximately 23 ā€“ 92 miles off the coast.BOEM finalized the WEA after extensive engagement with the states of Maineā€¦

17 Mar 2024

Launch Ceremony Held for A-O-S' New Jones Act CTV Gripper

(Photo: American Offshore Services)

An official launch ceremony was held to celebrate the commissioning of a new Jones Act compliant crew transfer vessel (CTV) built for American Offshore Services (A-O-S)ā€”the company's first.Constructed by Blount Boats in Warren, R.I., the 100-foot-long aluminum catamaran is owned and operated by A-O-S, a joint venture formed in 2020 by leading European CTV operator Northern Offshore Services (N-O-S) and U.S.-based investment firm OIC.The vessel will support Ørsted and Eversourceā€™s portfolio of offshore wind farms in the Northeastā€¦

15 Mar 2024

Ulstein Introduces New Subsea Vessel for Offshore Energy Market

Rendering of ULSTEIN SX232 vessel (Credit: Ulstein)

Norwegian shipbuilder and ship designer Ulstein has developed a new subsea vessel - ULSTEIN SX232 ā€“ designed to service the offshore wind market for floating and fixed installations as well as offshore oil and gas industry.Designed for walk-to-work operations in the offshore energy market, the ULSTEIN SX232 features an optimizes hull based on the ULSTEIN TWIN X-STERN design.The vessel is equipped with smart power and propulsion system developed to minimize energy consumption during DP operations and an integrated energy recovery system utilizing all the waste heat in the machinery systemsā€¦

18 Mar 2024

New International Partnership Set to Speed Up Offshore Wind Installations in US

(Credit: Maersk Supply Service)

Danish offshore marine services company Maersk Supply Service and U.S. vessel owner Edison Chouest Offshore (ECO) have partnered up for the construction and operation of a windfarm feeder concept specifically designed for Maersk Supply Serviceā€™s next-generation wind installation vessel (WIV).The purpose-built feeder spread includes two tugs and two barges to be delivered in 2026. They will be owned and operated by ECO and constructed by Bollinger Shipyards ā€“ the largest privately-owned shipyard group in the United States.As a key component to the installation processā€¦

14 Mar 2024

Ørsted Powers Up All Turbines at First US Commercial-Scale Offshore Wind Farm

(Credit: Ƙrsted)

Ørsted has installed and powered up all 12 turbines at the landmark South Fork project, and the first utility-scale U.S. offshore wind farm has started delivering power to Long Island and the Rockaways, offshore New York.The commissioning of the wind farm is in its final stage, and when at full capacity of 130 MW, it will generate enough renewable energy to power approximately 70,000 homes.The renewable energy is generated roughly 35 miles off the coast of Montauk, and will eliminate up to six million tons of carbon emissions over the life of the projectā€¦

15 Mar 2024

Tokyo Gas, 13 Others to Jointly Develop Offshore Wind

Ā© New Africa / Adobe Stock

Tokyo Gas and 13 other Japanese companies plan to set up a consortium "soon" to develop technology to mass produce floating offshore wind power facilities at a low cost, the Nikkei business daily reported on Wednesday.The other companies include Japan's biggest power generator JERA and regional utilities Kansai Electric Power, Tohoku Electric Power and Chubu Electric Power, the Nikkei said.Although Japanese companies have offshore wind assets in countries from Taiwan to Belgium and Britain, they have yet to build large-scale farms at home.(Reuters- Reporting by Kiyoshi Takenaka; editing by Mil

10 Mar 2024

Norway Offers $193 Million Funding to Arctic Floating Wind Farm Project

Ā© Marc Dyck / Adobe Stock

A floating offshore wind farm planned in Arctic waters on Friday received 2 billion Norwegian crowns ($193 million) in state funding, with Norway viewing the still costly technology as a key contributor for industry development and emission cuts.The GoliatVind project in the Barents Sea, consisting of five 15 megawatts turbines and seeking to supply power to the Arctic town of Hammerfest, beat out six other applicants in a tender by government agency Enova.Norway hopes that floating offshore wind will provide an industrial future for its offshore supply industry as well as a means of cutting e

11 Mar 2024

Strategic Marine Delivers Support Vessel for Yunlin Offshore Wind Farm

Support vessel for Yunlin offshore wind farm (Credit: Strategic Marine)

Singaporeā€™s Strategic Marine and Taiwanā€™s Prosperous Wind Shipping have delivered the hybrid-ready support vessel for the Yunlin offshore wind farm in Taiwan.The StratCat 27 hybrid-ready vessel is designed for the transfer of technicians and cargo, essential for the construction, operation, and maintenance of offshore wind farms.Owned and operated by Prosperous Wind Shipping, the vessel will be able to meet the specific needs of the offshore wind industry in Taiwan.Set to start operations at the Yunlin offshore wind farm in April 2024ā€¦