Page 38: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (June 2022)

INTERVIEW PIETER VAN OORD, CEO,VAN OORD sons learned from this project? Van Oord recently ordered a vessel that will be

I dare to say that the Saint-Brieuc project is the most com- able to install turbines of up to 25MW, turbines plex foundation contract on an offshore wind park ever. We’re that don’t exist today. Can you provide a ratio- looking at soil which is granite. For this particular project it nale behind the decision to order that vessel? is a jackets project, not a monopile. We drill three pin piles Let me tell you a little bit about the history ? rst. We built where we are going to ? x the jackets. Those pin piles are our ? rst turbine installation vessel in 2002, a vessel called drilled in holes that are, on average, 25 meters deep. Jumping Jack, which has been sold.

We have a very experienced drilling subcontractor, the In 2012, we contracted the vessel Aeolus, and it became

Bauer company, from Southern Germany. They have a lot of operational in 2015. At that time, we were building turbines experience with drilling, particularly in the Alps. up to 4MW.

So as you drill in this rock, one of the challenges is to en- (At the time) we felt four megawatts was big because when sure that the holes do not collapse while you are drilling. You we started in 2002, the average size of the turbines was two have to keep the holes open, so as you drill, you immediately megawatts.

save the drilling hole with a casing. So between 2002 and 2014, the size (of the turbines dou-

When you ? nalize your drill, you remove your drilling tool bled) from two megawatts to four megawatts. When we ? - and insert a pin pile; a permanent pin pile which will stick a nalized our ? rst project, which was the Gemini project, we few meters out from the bottom of the sea. suddenly realized that the average size of turbines had gone

You have to grout the pin pile to make it ? rm. So, we grout up to 8MW.

and then we retrieve the casing. When we leave, there are just So we had to do a crane conversion on this vessel, installing three small pinnacles which stick out of the bottom. a new Huisman crane, which made the vessel suitable for 10

Then the next campaign is, with a crane vessel, you place to 11MW turbines.

the jacket on top of the three pins sticking out of the sea bot- Today, we’re in the midst of building 11MW turbines. But I tom. It’s an extremely complex (process and) project, and we can tell you, the Hollandse Kust Noord (HKN) project, which encountered major issues in ‘21 on the project. we are going to build for Shell, we’re going to see 14MW

There was opposition by the local ? shermen. We encoun- turbines. tered soil that was even more dif? cult than the client had told So this coming winter, we’re going to do another crane con- us. So, we had to adjust the drilling tools to make it more version. suitable for this particular rock. We had to do a drill bit con- This is a long introduction to the story, and it’s why we be- version. We have restarted the project in early March and – lieve that when you build a wind turbine installation vessel, ‘knock on wood’ – so far things are going pretty well. you should actually keep in mind not the next generation tur- bine, but the next, next generation turbine.

In another ? rst, last year the Fryslan project We believe that somewhere around 2035 ... and this is ob- was completed, the ? rst time a wind farm of viously the feedback we have from the people like Siemens, this size has ever been constructed by a lake. Gamesa, Vestas and GE, that around 2035, we’ll be working

Can you discuss the challenges of working in a with a 20MW turbine.

lake as compared to offshore North Sea? So we contracted this vessel and we put on a crane, with a

I would say it’s more dif? cult. The main reason for that is vision that by 2035, we would be completely ready with this the logistics of bringing in those massive turbines and mono- vessel, to build this generation (of wind turbines which today) piles on a lake is quite challenging. does not exist.

Second, the traditional tool to build an offshore wind proj- It’s the largest turbine installation vessel in the world. But ect on the sea is a wind turbine insulation vessel. But here we really believe, if you want to invest for more than 10 years, on this lake the average water depth is about 15 feet. So, the there is no other choice.

standard means were not available.

So we built a modular barge we called the ‘barge soccer We also noted that the giant WTIV that you’re pitch,’ because it was as big as a soccer ? eld, and we put a going to be building is able to run on metha- massive crane on the barge nol. Can you discuss how the decarbonization (For a project like this you need to build) bespoke equip- trend is driving decisions on the equipment ment, which requires a lot of engineering and ingenuity. that you build, own and operate?

Overall it was an extremely successful project; we ? nished This company has made a pledge that by 2050, in line with last year, and it’s been generating a lot of electricity for the the Paris Agreement, we will be carbon neutral. That means province of Fryslan. that we only have 28 years to go.

Obviously the key emission within our company is the 38 Maritime Reporter & Engineering News • June 2022

MR #6 (34-49).indd 38 6/6/2022 8:57:36 AM