Germany: IQPC to Kick Off Conference on Offshore Wind Vessels

Offshore wind manager at Carbon Trust, Jan Matthiesen, will open International Vessels for Offshore Wind Park Supply and Installation conference on Monday at the Grand Elysée in Hamburg.

This conference will provide cutting edge case study presentations on the following topics:

• The latest foundation installation vessels for deep water projects that deliver significant cost savings
• Identifying the right solutions for future installation, O&M and future jacket installation vessel concepts
• Essential knowledge to minimise OSV emissions and implement effective environmental plans
• Discover the potential of using helicopters for far offshore wind farms

Heiko Kunst from European Commission and Karsten Dan Andersen from Vattenfall are just some of many experts that will speak at this conference.

The offshore wind industry offers to the German ship industry a growth potential of 6,5 billion Euros with classical vessel supply till 2020 and has the possibility to save up to 6000 Jobs within the industry.

The size and distance from shore of the next generation wind projects provides additional challenges to the offshore wind fleet. This is a challenge that the industry is currently facing, the cost of hiring vessels is estimated at being between 65 – 270k per day and 150 – 200 million to build per vessel , a huge cost involved within this sector. It is therefore vitally important that the right decisions are made when deciding on a vessel strategy for offshore wind projects.

The perceived shortage of vessels for the offshore industry looks to cause havoc for UK and European based wind developers. It is vitally important therefore to take a look at what vessels are being constructed now, and whether they will be suitable for the purpose of installing larger wind farms further offshore.

At the moment, vessels are used and built for the specific task or project.

[mappress]

Offshore WIND staff, November 23, 2012; Image: alpha ventus