ENGINEERINGNET.EU -- High Wind, a new company founded by the Belgian companies GeoSea (DEME Group), Alstom, Iemants, G&G International, SBE and Egemin is investing in the development a new installation technique for setting up offshore wind turbines.
One of the results of this move is that installation ships will become the “floating factories of the future”, transporting the different components of the turbines that will then be efficiently set up and assembled with the help of the new robot arms unhampered by the weather.
The high wind speeds that are prevalent at ideal locations for offshore wind farms often double and sometimes triple normal timeframes required for installation.
Thanks to High Wind’s new installation technique, it will be possible to set up wind turbines in higher wind speeds, which will lead to considerable and immediate savings on installation costs.
It will also lead to indirect advantages in terms of the cost of offshore wind farms: greater certainty about installation times and costs will simplify planning, enable the parks to produce energy more quickly and reduce the financing risk, and in turn the financing costs.
Peter Roose (High Wind): "We are convinced that the development of this installation robot is just the first step in the creation of a whole new industry in which high-quality technological solutions will be designed, built and assembled."
All five partners have previously gathered experience with the construction of offshore wind farms in the Northsea.
BACKGROUNDER
The offshore wind energy sector is currently experiencing strong growth. In order to meet EU objectives, offshore capacity must reach 40 GW by 2020 and as much as 150 GW by 2030. This means that the current wind farm of 1,100 wind turbines needs to be increased to 7,000 by 2020 and to more than 20,000 by 2030. This will also mean a sharp increase in the demand for installation ships.
