UK’s growing offshore wind industry: engineering and financial challenges
It’s that time of year again when the sector keeps a watchful eye on Treasury hints for the forthcoming budget.
North Sea oil and gas is bracing itself for the October budget, with leading trade body Offshore Energies UK warning that a tougher fiscal regime could see capital investment plunge from £14 billion to £2 billion between 2025-2029 together with a dip in economic value of around £13 billion. The offshore wind sector, by contrast, is very much in favour with the new Labour government, which has pledged to quadruple offshore wind power production to 55GW as part of its ambition to heavily expand offshore wind capacity by 2030.
These are exciting times to be working in the offshore wind industry with many stalwarts reporting a refreshing wind of change, not just among policymakers, investors and politicians but also the public at large. One summer survey found 69 percent of Britons want to see more offshore wind in the energy mix and more than six out of ten backed the Labour flagship energy policy to establish GB Energy, a publicly owned ‘clean power’ company that has attracted support across party political lines.
Ed Miliband, Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, said GB Energy will be a “new national champion” to help British people benefit from the country’s natural resources.
“We have tremendous advantages,” he stated, “From our long coastlines and shallow waters to our skilled energy workforce, with deep experience in offshore industries and cutting-edge technologies. The only thing that’s missing is a long-term plan to harness these significant assets.”
GB Energy is expected to be key to these plans. Based in Aberdeen, the long-time capital of North Sea oil and gas that is reinventing itself for a low carbon future, it will be backed by £8.3 billion of new money. It will partner with The Crown Estate, which is to be given new powers to borrow capital and invest more flexibly across its portfolio, with the aim of bringing forward new offshore wind developments.
Gaps: supply chain, ships and skills
While these measures are welcome, there’s much more to do, including an urgent overhaul of a planning system that can see new projects stalled for four or five years, and increased funding through the Contracts for Difference Scheme.
Tim Dixon, Senior Consultant at energy consultancy Cornwall Insight, says there “remains a significant gap” between contracted capacity and the amount needed if the government is to meet its ambitious 2030 targets.
“Renewables projects take years to build and become operational and there is just five years left to achieve a decarbonised electricity grid,” explains Dixon. “With AR7 (allocation round seven) expected to open to applications next March, the government must focus on enabling more projects to secure planning permission and grid connections to ensure a credible and sufficient pipeline for future development.”
Supply chain issues also weigh on the sector; a recent study published by the government highlighted problems with the supply of components such as fixed and floating foundations, and high voltage direct current cables.
Skills gaps are another worry, according to Jennifer Gomez Molina, Project Management Officer at Vattenfall and Co-Chair of IMarEST’s Technical Leadership Board. “We need more diverse routes into the industry to get the skilled engineers we need to build the massive pipeline of projects that lies ahead,” she says.
Maritime engineering challenges
Another major concern is the ability of the existing fleet to continue to serve this industry, particularly as turbines get ever bigger. Trade bodies are warning of a looming global vessel shortage in the next one to three years, with one market analysis suggesting only six of the existing 45 vessels may be capable of installing foundations exceeding 2,500 tonnes, and only 16 can install turbines over 15 MW.
Yet despite the looming capacity gap in the fleet, many operators are hesitant to commission newbuilds without more certainty around project pipeline, especially since the ‘turbine size race’ has accelerated vessel obsolescence.
Indeed, much like the early days of the North Sea oil boom, where support vessels designed for the Gulf of Mexico were quickly found to be inadequate in these more challenging waters, the offshore wind fleet is undergoing its own reinvention to keep pace with new challenges.
Martijn de Jongh, Chief Designer at Kongsberg Maritim, says the company has learned a lot since it delivered its first ever service operation vehicles (SOVs) Edda Passat and Edda Mistral. The ships were designed and delivered for the Race Bank and Hornsea wind farms at a time when the industry’s operational requirements were still under development and the intervening years have delivered insights that have informed a new series of vessels, such as IWS Skywalker.
“These provide a more flexible platform with greater capacity in accommodation, cargo space, lifting capacity and turbine access heights,” explains de Jongh of the newest ships. “In addition, the power and propulsion systems are optimised for the very dynamic operation profile these vessel types have.”
As turbines move into deeper and more remote waters, technicians are increasingly staying on site to improve efficiencies. This brings new design challenges for vessel operators who must ensure safety in these increasingly harsh environments as well as a high degree of comfort for those living at sea, not to mention being increasingly mindful of emissions and energy consumption.
These considerations will shape SOV designs in the near future, says de Jongh, along with working arrangements to accommodate changes in wind farm service schemes and potential asset sharing between farms.
Charging at sea
“The push for zero emission operation will also intensify,” adds de Jongh. “Full electric solutions are available, but require close cooperation between wind farm operators, vessel owners and operators, regulators, as well as designers and system suppliers.”
Offshore charging solutions and vessels with plug-in hybrid set-ups have been developed to capture clean green zero cost energy at source but there are still a lot of considerations to move these ideas into the mainstream.
“Although technology may be available, to make it happen requires the cooperation and planning,” de Jongh says, adding that Kongsberg works with wind farm owners and operators to understand operational and maintenance profiles. “Will the vessel rest at night? Do you charge once a day or twice? How many charging points do you need? What kind of system are you using? There are a lot of things to consider. As ship designers, we need to find the solutions for our customers, so we work together with them to get it right.”
Floating wind farms provide their own challenges, including the industrialisation of the installation of mooring systems and other infrastructure, with Kongsberg developing new vessel classes to serve the emerging floating wind farm market. And further ahead, the supply chain will need to adapt to offshore wind projects that are more than just offshore wind.
“This is a very exciting time, as projects are becoming programmes now,” concludes Molina, who highlights the kind of integrated development recently greenlit in the Netherlands. “Here, at the Port of Rotterdam, the Zeevonk II project involves the realisation of a 2GW offshore wind farm, a 50MWp floating offshore solar farm and an electrolyser.” With commissioning expected in 2029, the future is closer than some might expect and now appears to be the time to capacity-build across the supply chain and workforce.
Discuss offshore wind developments and more in the Offshore Renewables Special Interest Group.
Main image: Scroby Sands wind farm located in the North Sea off the Norfolk coast; credit: Shutterstock.
Inline image: Kongsberg’s IWS Skywalker SOV; credit: Kongsberg.
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