Bladt Shares Its Formula for Success

Technology

December 17, 2013

This year’s EWEA Offshore in Frankfurt served as an excellent opportunity for Offshore WIND team to meet with industry leaders, including Bladt Industries.

The company recently joined DONG Energy’s Gode Wind project, and we wanted to find out a little bit more about this large contract from Bladt Industries’ Tenna Horby.

When asked to give us some further details about Gode Wind foundations, Tenna Horby told Offshore WIND that besides the fact that the project will comprise 97 foundations and that the production should start in the third quarter of 2014, the wind farm will feature XL foundations.

“It is going to be 6-6.5 meters in diameter which is larger than normal,” she added.

Offshore WIND: You have been quite busy lately. You announced that you started to assemble the first two decks for the Nordsee Ost substation. What is the current status of your work on the substation and do you think that you can finish it on schedule?

Tenna Horby: The work is in progress, and we expect it to be finished in time, as the other twelve substations have been delivered on time and budget. We have just assembled the two decks.

Offshore WIND: Do you see further development of your company in producing larger structures for offshore wind?

Tenna Horby: It is in the company’s interest to go and follow the wind and follow the market development. If the demand in offshore wind industry is targeting larger structures intended for deeper waters, and if you want to be a part of that, you need to keep up with the market trends. You cannot say: “This is what we deliver and that’s final”, you need to meet the market needs.

Offshore WIND: In relation to the deeper waters, do you have any plans regarding the floating wind turbines?

Tenna Horby: Right now, they are on a drawing board. We go where the projects are. If there is going to be a demand for the floating structures, and if the inquiries are within our field of expertise, off course we’ll go with it.

We started with onshore wind, doing onshore towers many years ago, and then it got developed. We moved to offshore towers, and then we got to offshore foundations in 2002. We always have to develop.

Offshore WIND: You are also painting one of Vestas’ wind turbines, which shows that you are involved in the wind industry with more than just building foundations and substations.

Have you considered advancing your business even further, for example by investing in some new equipment or facilities that would widen your offer of services?

Tenna Horby: We have also been engaged in other renewables. Back in 2007/08 we did a marine current turbine. The tidal turbine, just a prototype, works and I think that we could do something similar with that as well. What is more, we also work for the oil and gas industry as well as infrastructural projects – from bridges to large tanks. Our company is interested in doing complex steel structures so it doesn’t matter whether it is a floating structure, jacket or a monopile, as long as we see that it involves a lot of project management and it’s complex, then it is interesting for Bladt.

Offshore WIND: Taking all your recent contracts and work into account, you are one of the companies that proved to be very successful in the offshore wind industry.

How would you describe your way to your today’s status, and what was important for Bladt Industries to make it this far in the industry?

Tenna Horby: Sometimes you need to stay back and monitor the market and then be ready to act when it’s needed. I think that is one of the things we have succeeded in: not to invest before we know more as a fact, to be secure, but also with a certain level of risk, off course. In addition, we have been good at establishing new facilities, getting them up and running quite quickly.

The gallery shows Bladt Industries facilities in Denmark and Germany: