Swire Blue Ocean enters offshore wind market
September 27, 2012 Category Alternative energy, Environment
Swire Blue Ocean has taken delivery of the biggest ship in the world specifically built to install offshore wind farm equipment in a move that marks the firm’s entrance into the global offshore wind farm market. The firm is a subsidiary of Swire Pacific Offshore, which is part of the Swire Pacific Group that is also the major shareholder in Hong Kong flag carrier, Cathay Pacific Airways. The 161 meter vessel, which has been named the Pacific Orca, will further enhance Swire Pacific Offshore’s capabilities. Its main focus at present is providing tugs and support ships to oil and gas rigs. The Pacific Orca will be joined by a sister ship, the Pacific Osprey, to be delivered at the end of the year. Both ships, built by South Korean shipbuilder Samsung Heavy Industries, will be deployed to Europe, where most wind farm developments are taking place. They have six jack-up legs that can be lowered onto the seabed and push the vessel above the ocean surface. That allows the installation of wind farm equipment in water up to 60 meters deep. Pacific Orca will help build the West of Duddon Sands offshore wind farm near Barrow-in-Furness on England’s northwest coast. The vessel will install 108 monopile foundations, each weighing 650 tons, and associated equipment for the project, which is being developed by Denmark’s Dong Energy and Scottish Power Renewables.
Rikke Stoltz, Business Development Manager and Director at Swire Blue Ocean, said the ship could carry up to five monopile foundations at a time. It also has the capacity to carry up to 12 turbines, comprising wind farm towers, generators and turbine blades, up to 3.6 MW in size. It takes about 24 hours to install each turbine or foundation, depending on the exact nature of the installation work and the weather conditions. Stoltz added that Swire Blue Ocean was likely to complete its involvement in the West of Duddon Sands project at the end of next year, and would later be joined by Pacific Osprey to help with the construction of the 400 MW DanTysk offshore wind farm 70 kilometers west of Sylt, an island in the North Sea, starting from the middle of next year. Stoltz said Pacific Osprey would also carry out decommissioning work in the oil and gas market, removing small platforms in the North Sea. Karsten Schulze, Senior Manager for Energy and Natural Resources at management consultant KPMG, said Britain and Germany were the biggest markets for offshore wind farm development. Up to 6,000 offshore wind turbines are forecast to be installed by 2030 if the German government’s expansion targets for wind energy are to be met. KPMG and the European Wind Energy Association said in a report there were up to 30 installation vessels available or under construction, the South China Morning Post reported.
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