Clarksons Renewables Newsletter

Clarksons Offshore & Renewables

The world’s #1 provider of chartering, logistics & marine advisory services for the offshore wind and energy markets.

Published Oct 10, 2023

Week 40

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE WEEK

Aberdeen's Floating Wind Showcase Shines Bright by David Matthews, Head of Strategy, Clarksons Offshore Last week's Floating Wind event in Aberdeen was nothing short of a resounding success, drawing an impressive turnout from industry stakeholders. What stood out most was the significant representation of Scotwind projects and developers, underscoring the growing enthusiasm for this initiative.

The overarching takeaway from the event is that we are still in the early stages of this exciting journey. While progress has been made in certain areas, the road to obtaining consents and navigating the upcoming CFD auction in 2024 is a complex one. In some instances, the path to meeting the ambitious Scotwind targets remains elusive. Currently, there's a staggering array of up to 150 foundation designs available, causing some concern among project teams and structural engineers.

They're diligently sifting through these options to ensure they don't miss a ground breaking idea that could propel their projects forward. However, it's crucial to address the existing cost disparities, making innovation a vital component of the equation.

The pillars of success—weight, production volume, scalability, and long-term operations and maintenance—continue to pose challenges for many designs. We're optimistic that the industry will witness more clarity and streamlining efforts in the coming months, allowing us to advance selected designs through the Front-End Engineering Design (FEED) stage and gain budget certainty. Another pressing concern revolves around the size of Wind Turbine Generators (WTGs), with many seeking units exceeding 20MW that are currently unavailable. Achieving commercial-scale projects before 2030 appears to be a formidable task.

Despite these challenges, the event served as a testament to the resilience and determination of the floating wind community. With continued collaboration and innovation, we can overcome these hurdles and usher in a new era of sustainable energy in Scotland.

Insights Shared: Offshore Wind Investment Seminar by Jens Egenberg, Head of Research Renewables We recently collaborated with Clarksons Securities and Green Giraffe Advisory to host the 'Offshore Wind Investment: Mind The Gap' seminar at our London headquarter. Against the backdrop of a challenging summer for renewable energy investors, this event successfully united investors, developers, and suppliers to provide the latest analysis. The discussion delved into leveraging 'the gap' to achieve positive, long-term results in return on investments, sector innovation, and supply chain stability within the offshore wind industry. Panelists: BlueFloat Energy, PE fund (developer) and North Star Renewables owner Partners Group, and Sif Group (foundation manufacturer).

These are our key takeaways: Amidst a turbulent summer, the presentations provided an insightful look into how investment is needed to unlock the supply/demand bottlenecks, encourage sector innovation and ensure more realistic electricity prices. Most of the developers and supply chain stakeholder stated that the current “crisis” and negative headlines we are observing currently, will blow over. And for industry veterans, the current setback we are experiencing at the moment, has been seen many times before.

OFFSHORE RENEWABLES NEWS

IWS Fleet has signed a time charter contract with Asso.subsea to support its activities in an offshore wind farm in France. The contract will commence in Q4 2024/Q1 2025 and will run for up to eight months. IWS will have four identical commissioning service operation vessels (CSOV) at the start of the contract and has the flexibility to choose from its fleet of identical CSOVs to provide the services. The contract is signed with more than a year's notice, which IWS says highlights the strong demand for Tier 1 CSOVs, both for the construction and commissioning of offshore renewable energy facilities. Meanwhile, the IWS Skywalker is undergoing sea trials as it prepares for delivery and the start of the first of three contracts for the Dogger Bank wind farm in the fourth quarter. Source: IWS

Chartwell Marine and VARD have joined forces to deliver innovative ‘Midi-SOV’ design for offshore wind. The 55-metre offshore wind craft is planned to come to the US and European markets in 2024. The Midi-SOV fills a new operational role between crew transer vessels (CTV) and service operating vessels (SOV). The Midi-SOV is capable of integrating methanol-diesel twin engines, electric propulsion and an energy storage system. The vessel has 36 individual cabins for the SPS (Specialist People Services) crew, 20 crew cabins and crew facilities such as a gym, auditorium, meeting rooms and lounges. The vessel is designed Jones Act Compliant, Americanised, ready for production in US Shipyards. Source: Chartwell

Van Oord has started cable installation at Iberdrola’s Baltic Eagle offshore wind farm. Inter-array cable loading onto their cable-laying vessel Nexus has commenced this week. Around 70 kilometres of 66kV inter-array cables, manufactured by subcontractor TKF, will be installed. Van Oord plans to bury these cables using their trencher, Dig-It, later this year. Dig-It, a tracked remotely operated vehicle (TROV), will create a trench for the cables by liquefying the seabed. Source: Van Oord

Toda Construction, in collaboration with five other companies, has acquired the jack-up vessel Teras Sunrise. The primary objective of this joint venture is to adapt and optimize the jack-up vessel for offshore wind installation purposes. Originally constructed in 2014 as a lift boat for the oil and gas industry, the vessel is equipped with two 750mt Huisman offshore mast cranes. With its deck load capacity and deck space, the vessel is well-suited for offshore wind installation projects. Considering it will work in Japanese waters, depth is a factor, with the vessel having a leg length estimated to be over 130 meters. Anticipated to conclude its modification phase by March 2025, the vessel is slated to be fully operational by September 2025. Upon completion, the vessel is expected to engage in both fixed and floating offshore wind projects. Source: Esgian Offshore Wind

DOF Group repurchased a non-core fleet of three platform supply vessels (PSVs) from its banks and capitalised two of the vessels shortly afterwards. DOF sees a tight situation and rising ship values in the global OSV market. Thus, a profit was made on the sale. At the end of September, the Norwegian owner had agreed to buy the Skandi Barra, the Skandi Caledonia and the Skandi Captain from the lenders for a total price of Nkr 270.0 million (US$ 24.7 million). Three days later, DOF Rederi sold the 2005-built Skandi Barra and the 2003-built Skandi Caledonia to Atlantica Shipping for Nkr 275.0 million (US$ 25.1 million). All three PSVs are chartered in the North Sea. The Skandi Barra will be handed over to the new owners in October 2023 and the Skandi Caledonia in November 2023. DOF will continue to act as technical and commercial manager for the vessels. The Skandi Captain, built in 2004, is on charter in the North Sea until 8 November. DOF said the PSVs are part of its older, non-core fleet; it plans to focus on subsea services and floating offshore wind. The sale of the two PSVs is subject to certain conditions, including the charterer's consent. Source: Riviera

The Orlen Group has secured licences for five offshore wind farms in Poland. The Minister of Infrastructure has issued the final decision on the granting of licences for the development of five new offshore wind farms in the Polish Baltic Sea, initiating the preparatory phase of the project. Orlen's planned five offshore wind farms are expected to have a total capacity of around 5.2 GW and generate clean energy for around eight million households, according to the company. Of the five licences Orlen has been awarded, four are located on the banks of the Odra River near Kołobrzeg, while the fifth is on the Słupsk shore. This area borders the site of the Baltic Power wind farm, a joint project between Orlen and its Canadian partner Northland Power. The Baltic Power wind farm is currently the most advanced offshore wind farm project in Poland with a planned capacity of 1.2 GW, which is expected to start generating electricity as early as 2026. Source: Orlen Group

The Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) is preparing to release an offshore wind request for proposals (RFP) offering up to 1,196 MW of offshore wind capacity. The deadline for developer bids is expected to be set for 31 January 2024. Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to coordinate offshore wind project selections. Connecticut’s offshore wind roadmap was announced this week and includes leveraging deepwater ports and expanding workforce development programs. Connecticut aims to receive electricity from offshore wind turbines by 2025 with the Revolution Wind offshore wind farm. Source: Offshore WIND

MEET CLARKSONS AT RENEWABLES EVENTS

5th Japan Wind Energy Day, Tokyo 17th – 18th Oct. | More information

Wind Energy Taiwan, Taipei 18th – 20th Oct. | More information

10th Asia Offshore Wind Day, Busan 24th Oct. | More Information

Offshore Energy, Amsterdam 28th – 29th Nov. | More information

The Tokyo-based shipping company MOL is now a strategic shareholder in Odfjell Oceanwind, injecting capital for market strength. This transaction empowers Odfjell Oceanwind to enhance its presence in the floating offshore wind technology market. Odfjell Technology Ltd. remains the main shareholder alongside the Odfjell family's direct investments. This collaboration will enable Odfjell Oceanwind to accelerate its business plan by partnering with offshore wind farm developers using its Deepsea™ technology. This is in line with recent partnerships with Source Galileo, Kansai Electric Power and Ingka for the Utsira North seabed lease competition.

One day before, MOL and EDF Renewables announced their partnership in offshore wind and green hydrogen opportunities. Both parties have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to cooperate in acceleration of the development of offshore wind and related business and to encourage developments in Green Hydrogen. EDF Renewables and MOL aim to combine their expertise and experience in offshore wind and green hydrogen solutions. Source: MOL

The European Commission (EC) approved a EUR 193 million offshore wind support scheme in Lithuania, aiding the country's net-zero transition. The scheme will support a 700 MW offshore wind project in the Baltic Sea, chosen through competitive bidding. The aid will be a variable premium through a 15-year contract for difference (CfD), where the beneficiary receives aid based on the difference between market prices and a set strike price. However, the beneficiary must pay the state the difference if market prices exceed the strike price. In July, Lithuania completed its first 700 MW offshore wind tender, with Ocean Winds and its strategic partner, Ignitis Renewables, announced as the provisional winners. It is expected that the second offshore wind farm, planned to be put out to tender this autumn, could produce its first power as early as 2028. Source: Offshore WIND

Clarksons Renewables Newsletter

Clarksons Offshore & Renewables

The world’s #1 provider of chartering, logistics & marine advisory services for the offshore wind and energy markets.

OFFSHORE RENEWABLES NEWS

MEET CLARKSONS AT RENEWABLES EVENTS

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