Maersk unveils faster offshore wind installation concept for US
Maersk unveils faster offshore wind installation concept for US | Windpower Monthly
International shipping firms Maersk and Edison Chouest Offshore are partnering to develop a new way to install offshore wind turbines more rapidly in US waters.
The pair will partner on a ‘wind farm feeder concept’ designed to sync up with Maersk’s wind installation vessel designed for offshore wind construction.
The concept will use two purpose-built tugboats and two barges due to be constructed by US firm Bollinger Shipyards by 2026, Maersk explained.
This fleet of specially designed vessels will transport wind turbine components or foundations to the offshore wind site, while its wind installation vessel stays at the location to complete installation, allowing for faster installation.
“Maersk Supply Service’s new installation concept can make offshore wind farm installations significantly faster with estimated efficiency gains of 30%,” claimed Christian Ingerslev, CEO at Maersk Supply Service.
Maersk hopes to use the concept to open more US ports for offshore wind installation amid numerous large planned offshore wind projects currently being developed. Under the US' Jones Act, vessels transporting goods from one point to another in US waters must be US-flagged.
Related Knowledge Center: Offshore wind energy
Over the next decade, U.S. offshore wind power is expected to grow from a single 30-megawatt wind farm off Rhode Island to more than 2,000 MW of capacity along the Atlantic Seaboard. There are contracts for wind power off the coasts of Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, Maryland, New Jersey, Rhode Island, and Virginia.
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory has estimated the United States has over 4,000 gigawatts (GW) of offshore wind potential, enough to power the country four times over.
The growth in part being spurred by state solicitations, including in New York, where then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) set a commitment of 9,000 MW of offshore wind by 2035, and in Connecticut, where in June 2021, Gov. Ned Lamont (D) signed legislation authorizing the construction of 2,000 MW of offshore wind by 2030.
The offshore development is also being driven by an investment tax credit set to end in December 2019 and is equal to 12 percent of expenditures. U.S. Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Tom Carper (D-Del.) have introduced a bill to extend the tax credit for up to eight years.
The Interior Department has held eight competitive lease sales that resulted in 15 offshore wind leases over 1.7 million acres that has the potential for 21 GW of capacity. In February 2022, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management completed a bidding process that realized $4.37 billion for 488,000 acres across six lease areas in federal waters off New York and New Jersey.
Projects have also been proposed off the Southeast coast, off California and Hawaii, and for the Great Lakes.