Arrays News

While construction productivity issues continue to present immediate challenges for the U.S. offshore wind industry, the long-term outlook remains strong for the nascent sector, according to a recent report from business intelligence and consulting firm Intelatus Global Partners. Intelatus' most recent monthly report on the U.S. offshore wind industry identifies a number of factors hindering offshore construction activities--from weather delays to the scheduling and availability of necessary vessels."Construction vessel productivity to date has been below expectation…

Founded as the Military Sea Transportation Service (MSTS) and renamed Military Sealift Command in 1970, MSC today not only support the Navy, but we are the Department of Defense's provider of all sealift. Maritime Reporter & Engineering News recently interviewed Rear Adm. Philip Sobeck, U.S. Navy, for insights on the service today and it’s needs to grow in the future.What makes MSC so vital to the Navy’s fleet and our military forces around the world?When we  look at the history of contested logistics in World War II…

The specialized deepwater oil & gas and floating offshore wind segments will share many of the same stakeholders and supply chains, competing for increasingly scarce resources.To receive a full version of Inteletus analysis, click hereThe established floating production segment is forecast to experience continued growth through this decade, driving demand for, among other things, moorings, subsea systems, umbilicals, risers, flowlines and the large anchor handlers and subsea support vessels that will install and maintain the elements.At the same time…

A European project, led by one of Scotland’s leading tidal developers, has demonstrated that the cost of tidal energy could potentially be reduced by as much as 40 percent, and has produced findings that could redefine the boundaries on what can be achieved by tidal power globally. The $22m EnFAIT (Enabling Future Arrays in Tidal) Horizon 2020 project, brought together  seven partners including Scottish tidal developer Nova Innovation, who manage the world’s first offshore tidal array - the Shetland Tidal Array…

HydroWing is gearing up for deployment of its tidal energy technology, following the recent announcement that it has been awarded a contract for a 10MW tidal stream energy project in Wales.HydroWing was the largest tidal stream project in Wales to be successful in the UK government’s latest Contracts for Difference round. The project will be located at the Morlais tidal energy site in Anglesey, which is managed by the social enterprise Menter Môn. The Morlais site is the UK’s largest consented tidal energy scheme.Richard Parkinson…

On a windswept island 50 miles north of Seattle sits a U.S. Navy monitoring station. For years, it was kept busy tracking whale movements and measuring rising sea temperatures. Last October, the Navy gave the unit a new name that better reflects its current mission: Theater Undersea Surveillance Command.The renaming of the spy station at the Whidbey Island naval base is a nod to a much larger U.S. military project, according to three people with direct knowledge of the plans:…

In Cape Cod Bay, 10-year-old Pilgrim and her calf skim the water's glassy surface alongside the Shearwater research vessel to feed on tiny crustaceans.The two are among the last surviving 340 or so North Atlantic right whales left migrating along the U.S. East Coast – down from 480 right whales in 2010.The biggest threats they face include being struck by passing ships or getting entangled in ropes used for lobster fishing off the U.S. East Coast - scientists have recorded 98 such injuries or deaths of whales since 2017.Now, the whales face another threat as the U.S.

ORPC, an marine renewable energy developer whose power systems harness the energy of free-flowing rivers and tides, has signed a contract with Shell Technology – Marine Renewable Program to initiate a Modular RivGen Power System demonstration project in the Lower Mississippi River.The collaborative project represents an opportunity to showcase how the next generation of ORPC’s hydrokinetic technology can provide predictable baseload electricity to help decarbonize onshore assets.

Tim Clerc’s maritime career spans half a century, starting with his cadet training in 1969 in the U.K. He sees hybrid technology as one of the most transformational technological developments in maritime in that span, and the company is currently awaiting its 10th hybrid, the Seacor Yangtze. Clerc discusses the hybrid strategy and offers some practical insights.If you had to pick one technology that you think has made the business of running ships more efficient, more cost effective…

As the dust settles from Wednesday's California floating wind auction, and developers begin to discuss their plans, energy industry intelligence firm Intelatus says development of the floating wind manufacturing and installation supply chain must speed up.Developers are beginning to release details of their bids for yesterday’s California floating wind auction. The successful bidders for the two north California Humboldt sites, RWE and CIP, both bid the highest prices per square kilometer of lease area.

Offshore energy industry services provider High Speed Transfers (HST) Marine has ordered three Fast Crew Suppliers 2710s from Damen Shipyards for an undisclosed fee.Damen Shipyards said that the vessels would be fitted with 190kW battery arrays that will enable them to operate emissions-free both when in harbour and when loitering offshore awaiting the retrieval of their technicians. In zero-emission mode, the vessels will be propelled by an electrical motor that is connected via the gearbox (PTI) to the propeller shaft.

Two load-bearing pillars of Norway’s leading maritime industry cluster in Sunmøre on the country’s west coast – offshore energy and the expedition cruise sector – took severe knocks from plunging energy prices in the 2010s followed by COVID-19. However, a recent tour of the region found the cluster in recovery mode.At the time, the cluster’s diversification strategy was to dive into the emerging expedition cruise sector: small, highly sophisticated ships designed to operate in some of the world’s most sensitive environments incorporated features including the highest ice-class…

Over the last year we have seen an upswing in floating production and storage systems ordering after many years of low activity. According to our colleagues at World Energy Reports, “The global oil and natural gas markets are contending with rebounding energy demand on top of supply disruptions from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. As a result, activity and business sentiment in the floating production sector has seldom been stronger.”  This increased activity in the floating production…

AqualisBraemar LOC ASA Group's (ABL Group) operations in the USA announced the new appointment of Sean Murphy as Senior Surveyor based in Boston, adding to ABL’s strengths in both the local maritime and offshore renewables industries.Murphy is a chartered naval architect and marine engineer, and a graduate of Webb Institute with a masters in engineering management from Duke University.He has extensive experience in marine casualty investigations for various interests, serving as an expert witness in his field.

With a rapid evolution of communication connectitivity need, Inmarsat launched I-6 F1, the first of seven new Inmarsat satellites to be launched by 2024, a key piece of the satcom giant's platform to deliver enhanced ELERA (L-band) and Global Xpress (Ka-band) for Indo-Pacific.Inmarsat confirmed the successful launch of its first Inmarsat-6 satellite (I-6 F1) by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) from the JAXA Tanegashima Space Center in Japan.The Inmarsat-6s (I-6) are Inmarsat’s first ever hybrid L- and Ka-band satellites…

As of end-June 2021, more than 100 turbine and foundation installation and maintenance vessels will be required for offshore wind projects planned over this decade.More than 100 turbine and foundation installation and maintenance vessels will be required for offshore wind projects planned over this decade. Almost all of the current fleet of international wind turbine installation vessels will be technically redundant as installation vessels by 2025 as a consequence of the rapidly growing wind turbine sizes, greater water depths and increase in foundation size.

Norwegian shipbuilder VARD has won contracts to build three Service Operation Vessels (SOVs) for the UK-based North Star Renewables. The vessels, to be built in Vietnam, will operate on the Dogger Bank Wind Farm in the North Sea, the world's largest.The shipbuilding contract announcement comes three weeks after North Star said it had won a deal worth around $375 million to supply SOVs for the giant wind farm off the UK. The 3.6 GW Dogger Bank wind farm is being built  in three phases in the North Sea by joint venture partners SSE Renewables…

British company Windship Technology has unveiled a whole-ship solution to tackle CO2 emissions from ships, launching its emissions-free bulk carrier and tanker designs alongside an investment partnership with classification society DNV.Starting from a clean drawing board, Technical Director Simon Rogers and his design team developed and tested at the Wolfson Unit in Southampton the company’s patented high performance, highly efficient triple-wing rig. The technical team further developed a new diesel electric ship drive system that eliminates CO2…

The floating offshore wind industry, still considered nascent with around 100MW installed capacity - and minuscule compared to the installed capacity of its „older brother,“ - that is the conventional, fixed bottom offshore wind industry (29GW at 2019 end) - is showing promise and is expected to take off big time by the end of the decade.While the current installed capacity is small and focused on pilot projects, the potential is there for the floating wind farms to reach and…

Damen Shipyards Group has completed the rebuild of research vessel OceanXplorer at Damen Shiprepair Rotterdam. As OceanX’s new flagship, she is equipped with a series of submersibles, sonar arrays, manned submarines, an ROV and AUV, giving full capability to explore and map the depths of the oceans.OceanXplorer’s research facilities are paired with Hollywood quality filming and media studios – developed in partnership with renowned filmmaker James Cameron. With this, the vessel’s…

Geophysical seismic surveys and port security may appear to have little in-common. However, it turns out that managing complex marine seismic operations, where 10km-long seismic streamers have to be deployed harmoniously alongside other offshore marine assets, isn’t that dissimilar to managing – and protecting – port facilities.It's an area that ION Geophysical, more known for seismic data acquisition technology, has recently been proving its expertise in, using its Marlin system for marine operations management.

There is a new buzzword in the ocean science/sensing community. The word is eDNA, an abbreviation for environmental DNA. This refers to DNA that can be extracted from environmental samples without first isolating any target organisms. In the maritime community such samples are taken from water. All living organisms leave traces of DNA in their environments which is an indicator of their presence over time. This DNA is released into the environment through the biological process of living animals or by the decomposition of dead organisms.

UK high voltage engineering specialist EDS HV Group has completed consultancy work at Vattenfall's 407MW Horns Rev 3 (HR3) wind farm off Denmark.Vattenfall’s Horns Rev 3, located off the coast of Denmark, contains 49 8.3MW MHI Vestas turbines, with a total capacity of 406.7MW, enough to provide renewable energy to 425,000 Danish Homes, said a press release from EDS, part of James Fisher and Sons plc.Under the scope of work EDS provided pre-site engineering support, HV system reviews, consultancy support, and the provision and implementation of HV safety rules from the 33kV switchgear on the offshore substation (OSS) to the arrays and turbines…