With offshore wind taking off in the US Barry Parker reviews a report by classification society ABS evaluating the US offshore wind industry’s readiness to deliver the 40 gigawatts of capacity the International Energy Agency estimates will be installed by 2040.
The comprehensive document is titled – Positioning for US expansion: US ports and innovation.
It’s worth re-stating the obvious- from a sentence in the report’s conclusion: “The construction and maintenance of offshore wind projects calls for a combination of expertise that is comparatively new to the US market and requires a variety of specialist support tonnage.”
The document highlights the services that ABS, already a leader in classification and engineering of vessels supporting offshore fossil fuels exploration and production, can provide to this burgeoning market segment.
Photo: Shutterstock. A proposal to build a 15-turbine wind farm in federal waters 30 miles east of Montauk Point came closer to fruition when the East Hampton Town Board approved two agreements with South Fork Wind, LLC. A press release issued by theTown says that the project would be the first offshore wind farm in New York State. The turbines will produce enough clean, renewable energy every year to power 70,000 homes, according to a fact sheet available on South Fork Wind’s website. South Fork Wind is a joint venture between Ørsted, a multinational power company based in Denmark, and Eversource, a national energy leader with homegrown expertise in regional energy transmission. Recently, the partners purchased a facility inResearch Way in East Setauket to serve as their local base of operations.
Picture: Keppel AmFELs The path towards Wind Turbine Installation Vessels with “Jones Act” qualification, and capable of ferrying components from US ports to offshore wind project, as well as handling actual installation, has taken a big step forward with the keel laying of a vessel to be constructed at the Keppel AmFELs yard, in Brownsville, Texas.
In a prepared release, a top executive at Dominion Energy said: “Dominion Energy is proud to be leading a consortium of respected industry participants in the construction of the first Jones Act compliant offshore wind turbine installation vessel, which will provide significant American jobs, and provide a reliable, home-grown installation solution with the capacity to handle the next generation of large-scale, highly-efficient turbine technologies. This will better enable the offshore wind industry to bring clean, renewable energy to customers in the US”
Edison Chouest boasts long-term gig for PSV with battery system December 22, 2020, by Nermina Kulovic
U.S.-based vessel owner Edison Chouest Offshore has executed the first long-term contract with an unnamed major oil and gas company in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico to install a battery-on-board (BoB) system aboard an ECO 312′ Class platform supply vessel (PSV), with options for additional systems.
According to a Monday statement by Edison, the vessel has been augmented with the latest sustainable BoB technology in order to reduce the carbon footprint during operations and port standby periods.
Edison Chouest added it is working alongside its affiliate Marine Technologies to use proprietary, class-certified automation.