Page 43: of Marine Technology Magazine (November 2017)

The Author

After honing the media campaign of Norwegian green group Bellona,

William Stoichevski began working for the AP in Oslo. In 2003, he left the AP to oversee and write for a number of energy industry publica- tions in the Norwegian capital. He lives and works in Oslo, and has written for MTR since 2014.

England years ago, Britain was seeing its ? rst wind turbines novel designs for crew-transfer vessels. For the uninitiated, there was something worrying about the bump-up against the grouted ? anges turbine towers rested on. Grid operators then complained of suppliers’ rickety ? nances.

Today’s operator-supplier bonds are robust, as illustrated by Esvagt signing a 15-year contract with MHI Vestas Off- shore Wind to deploy SOVs to both near-shore and remote

European wind projects in need of accommodation, W2W and the company’s deployable safe transfer boats, or STBs, for technicians, tools and turbine spares. In 2010, ESVAGT brought SOVs to the market that offered offshore-style leisure, of? ce, storage and workshops of special interest should ? oating wind take projects succeed farther out into the U.S. 200-mile limit, as is envisioned.

So, is the U.S. an Esvagt target market? “The short an- swer is no,” says business development manager, Ole Ditlev

Nielsen. “ESVAGT aims to follow and assist the expansion of the renewable industry, where SOVs create value. We will therefore be ready to follow our customers out of Eu- rope as well. This requires that the local regulations enable

ESVAGT to perform its services there.”

Meanwhile, British advocacy Subsea UK now advises its members to seek wind work to wherever it may be to offset lost oil-and-gas opportunity. In August 2017, the organiza- tion put world offshore wind spending at over $465 billion through to 2026. www.marinetechnologynews.com

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