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Offshore wind energy gets busy on the Humber

By Andy Reay, A2SEA Regional Manager for the UK

The Humber may not be that long as rivers go (just 59 kilometres from one end to the other), but its lack of length isn’t about to stop it being one of the busiest spots in offshore wind energy next year. In fact, the area will be home to both operations & maintenance projects, as well as considerably more offshore construction, too.

Actually, the Humber isn’t a river at all. Situated on the east coast of northern England and flowing into the North Sea, it’s a tidal estuary formed where the River Trent and the River Ouse meet each other. In 2017, for the first time, A2SEA will be bringing two jack-up vessels to the area, kicking off two new projects that will see components being loaded out from Siemens’ new £160 million turbine blade manufacturing, project construction, assembly and service facility at Green Port Hull.

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Success is: Being in the right spot at the right time

By Klaus Holm Nissen, Project Manager, A2SEA

SEA INSTALLER and her crew have just installed the eighteenth of 32 MHI Vestas V164-8.0 MW turbines at Burbo Bank Extension. So far, we’ve made excellent progress, despite having to work with a lot of new, specialised lifting equipment for these large components. With the learning curves behind us, and if the weather continues to cooperate as nicely as it has to date, we expect to be finished mid to late December.

This is the first time we’ve installed a MHI Vestas V164-8.0 MW turbine. Yet the task presents relatively few challenges for us. Perhaps the most difficult part of the project, seen from A2SEA’s point of view, is the sea bed in the area. With a lot of clay and sand, as well as some silt, it’s a tricky task to jack up securely. That kind of surface composition can be very sticky, which initially had us thinking we might have problems retracting the legs. But it didn’t turn out to be much of a problem. There were, of course, some extended pre-load periods in order for us to compress the soil sufficiently and make sure it was able to support the vessel – even in a storm.

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Turbine installation and the levelised cost of energy: Bigger vessel payloads

By Hans Peter Johannsen, Vice President, Projects.

This is the third article in our series about reducing the LCoE in the offshore wind industry through optimising turbine loading, transport and installation.

A2SEA’s internal data supports wider industry observations that the cost of turbine installation per installed MW is, in fact, coming down. From our perspective (and remembering that turbine installation is a minor part of an wind farm’s overall development), there are gains to be made whenever we can load more megawatts at a time onto our vessels. This ability is strongly assisted by the increasing amount of power generated by larger turbines such as the MHI Vestas 8 MW. But that’s far from the full story.

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Work wise, think twice: Keeping our bodies safe

By Kirsten Bank Christensen, Vice President, HSEQ at A2SEA A/S

Musculoskeletal injuries are an ever-present hazard in the offshore wind installation business. They’re defined as injuries that affect the human body’s movement or musculoskeletal system (muscles, tendons, ligaments, nerves, discs, blood vessels and so on). And, while many have an obvious and immediate cause, such as a back injury caused by lifting a heavy object on an awkward angle, others may be ‘occupational illnesses’ – damages that creep up on a worker over many years. In any case, this is a serious issue that can have permanent and devastating consequences at both professional and personal levels.

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Tightening up the tendering process

By Tony Millward, Vice President, Tender & Contracts, A2SEA

Tendering has been part of the offshore wind industry since its inception – and it’s crucial for arriving at an efficient and safe turbine installation plan. Yet still today, there are elements of the tender process that can be improved. So what makes for a good process?

For me, one of the most important aspects to tendering is simply this: Who’s at the table? At A2SEA, we always front with a full team comprising commercial, technical and legal advisors in all phases. This hasn’t been the norm on the other side of the table – but it may well be where things are headed in the future.

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First MHI Vestas 8MW turbine installed

By Jens Frederik Hansen, CEO, A2SEA

On September 8, SEA INSTALLER successfully installed the first of the MHI Vestas V164-8 MW turbines – the largest offshore wind turbines ever sold for commercial operation – at the Burbo Bank Extension project. The project will add round 258 MW of capacity and stretches over 40 square kilometres.

Installing these turbines is nothing short of fantastic, and we are very pleased to work with MHI Vestas again. The preparation for the project was smooth and professional and the whole experience to date has been very positive. We look forward to installing more of these enormous turbines during the rest of this project and in others to come.

Read more about the project here.

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All set – ready to go

All eyes are on Borkum Riffgrund 1, the 78-turbine DONG Energy wind farm for which both A2SEA and CT Offshore have been busily preparing. Located 37 kilometres to the north of the island of Borkum, the first monopile foundation for Borkum Riffgrund 1 wind farm was installed on 21 January 2014. Now, with foundations and transition pieces in place, it’s time for the teams at A2SEA and CT Offshore to swing into action, executing plans that have been carefully laid over many months. Continue reading →