Recently, at a webinar on offshore wind power, many experts pointed out that the era of floating offshore wind power has come, the trial period of floating offshore wind power technology has been successfully completed, and it is ready to be put into use in many sea areas around the world.
Advantages of floating offshore wind power
Fixed offshore wind power facilities can be installed at a water depth of up to 50m, while floating offshore wind power assets can be put at a water depth of 1000m and above technically. Therefore, floating technology opens up a very wide space for deep-sea wind power site selection.
With the rapid development of supply chain and modular construction technology, the cost of floating offshore wind power has been significantly reduced. Experts attending the meeting said that, in fact, the energy cost of floating wind power is becoming consistent with the power produced by fixed devices, and will further decline in the future.
With at least 50 years of oil and gas development experience and self financing ability, Norwegian national energy company equinor ranks first in the field of floating wind power. In the past four years, Hywind Scotland, the world’s first floating offshore wind farm built by equinor, has successfully operated on the coast of Peterhead, Scotland, with a total installed capacity of 5 turbines of 30MW. The company has also developed the Hywind tampen floating wind power project, where eight floating turbines can produce 88mw of power for oil and gas production in Snorre and gulfaks oil fields in the North Sea.
Sonja indreb ø, vice president of floating offshore wind power at equinor, outlined some potential advantages of floating wind power over fixed offshore wind power structures. She said that floating wind farms could be built further away from the coast, where the water is deeper, the wind is stronger, easier to predict and more lasting.
The construction of floating wind power facilities may be modular, and the assembly operation will be carried out at the professional Wharf on shore. The wind farm will be towed offshore and connected to the pre installed mooring system on site. This will provide more space and reduce installation costs, and will also make larger turbine applications a reality, with an installed capacity of up to 20MW in the next 10 years.
Dan Jackson, a shareholder of cerulean winds, said that for fixed offshore wind power facilities, the rapid expansion of turbine size may be close to the actual limit.
Cerulean winds is preparing to install 200 floating turbines west of the Shetland Islands and in the central North Sea. The resulting 3gw of electricity will be used to power oil and gas assets in northern England, northeast Scotland and the Shetland Islands and three onshore hydrogen power plants, which are scheduled to start operation in 2024.
Recently, at a webinar on offshore wind power, many experts pointed out that the era of floating offshore wind power has come, the trial period of floating offshore wind power technology has been successfully completed, and it is ready to be put into use in many sea areas around the world.
New service ship demand
Floating wind power has different requirements for ships. Compared with land, the wind speed and frequency at sea are higher and more stable because there are no obstacles to limit its path. Most of the manufacturing and assembly of the floating wind power structure can be completed in the port, after which the unit only needs to be towed to the offshore site. This avoids the use of installation vessels required for fixed foundations, such as large wind turbine installation vessels, jack up or dynamic positioning vessels. The installation of floating platform requires large dynamic positioning anchor supply tug (AHTS).
In the field of floating wind power, the purpose of anchor operation and supply tugboat includes pre installing mooring equipment and anchors, towing floating foundation, connecting floating foundation to mooring equipment, installing power cables, carrying out inspection and maintenance, and providing assistance during platform decommissioning.
According to the analysis of maritime Strategies International, a shipping consulting agency, with the rapid development of large floating wind power projects, the demand for anchor handling supply tugs in this new market will increase in the mid-1920s. As a result, the utilization rate of anchor handling supply tugs will also increase. Coupled with the demand of Shanghai’s oil and gas industry, the rate of this ship type will also rise. However, there should be no new anchor supply tugs in the short term. When its demand increases strongly in the second half of the 1920s, the average age of the anchor supply tug fleet will be very high.
Of course, the size and endurance of future floating wind power service ships need to be larger.