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FEATURE OFFSHORE WIND industry also represents a signi?cant opportunity to those in and 20 scale tested in the ?eld and 3 concepts have been dem- the supply chain, and the companies that have traditionally onstrated at full scale.

served the offshore oil and gas industry. Concrete contractors “Only 2 concepts have reached the stage of pilot array to date, will bene?t, as well. although several more concepts will reach this stage over the

According to WER’s offshore wind report, ?oating offshore next couple of years. We expect to see the ?rst pre-commercial projects differ from bottom ?xed in that offshore construc- arrays - that’s under 100MW by 2022 - and the ?rst commercial tion and installation calls on methods very familiar to oil & arrays over 100MW by the middle of the decade,” Lewis says.

gas offshore yards and offshore support vessel (OSV) owners and operators.

CHALLENGES “At World Energy Reports, we see the opportunities for

With any opportunities, invariably, there are challenges. traditional offshore and marine companies that support the What has been touted as a bene?t earlier in the article – big- oil and gas sector like offshore yards, mooring system chain ger size – can also pose a challenge.

and anchor manufacturing and OSV operators. We also see “Firstly, I think most people would struggle to picture how exciting opportunities for those not traditionally involved in big these units can be. If we take an industrial-scale ?oating the offshore oil and gas market, such a pre-cast concrete and wind farm, you could easily expect to see 50 to 100 steel or in-situ concrete contractors and manufacturers of synthetic concrete or substructures to meet a 200-300 day installation ropes,” Lewis says, however warning that WER does not feel weather window.

that the supply chain has fully embraced the scope and scale

Taking the example of a steel ?oater, Lewis explains, that of the opportunities that exist in this sector.

could be 150,000 to 350,000 tonnes of steel to be produced in two to three years, with each 2500-3500 tonnes structure 60 CONCEPTS requiring some 6,000+sqm of area.

World Energy Reports is tracking some 60 ?oating wind “The structures are physically large and will be required in substructure concepts. Of these 60, 38 have been tank tested large quantities,” Lewis says.

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