The Anonymous Widower

Deepest Ever Fixed-Bottom Wind Turbine Foundation Stands Offshore Scotland

The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on offshoreWIND.biz.

This is the sub-heading.

The world’s deepest fixed-bottom wind turbine foundation has been installed at what will be Scotland’s largest offshore wind farm – Seagreen – off the coast of Angus.

This is the first paragraph.

On Friday, 7 April, the jacket foundation was transported to the project site on a barge operated by the main contractor, Seaway 7, where it was met by the Saipem 7000 – the semisubmersible crane vessel which is used to lift each of the 2,000-tonne turbine foundations into place.

It is obviously, a very worthwhile engineering achievement.

But two thousand tonnes of steel and a giant crane to lift it into place seems a bit of an overkill to me.

I believe that there must be a better method.

I feel that Entrion Wind’s idea of a FRP monopole, which I talked about in Entrion Wind Wins ScotWind Feasibility Deal For Its 100-Metre Depth Foundation Tech, could be a better bet.

April 12, 2023 Posted by | Design, Energy | , , , | 1 Comment

ESB Invests In Floating Offshore Wind Mooring Tech

The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on offshoreWIND.biz.

This is the sub-heading.

Ireland’s Electricity Supply Board (ESB) has announced that it will invest in Dublin Offshore Technology (DOT), a company specialising in floating offshore wind mooring technology

These three paragraphs, outline the new relationship.

DOT has developed a technology solution for floating offshore wind mooring systems which provides significant design improvements for the wind farm, the company said.

The optimised mooring system delivers these benefits using locally-sourced materials tried and tested in the offshore environment with no degradation over the full lifetime of the wind farm, according to the Irish energy company.

By partnering with DOT, ESB will be able to leverage its expertise and resources to accelerate the development and delivery of its floating wind project portfolio.

In 13 Offshore Wind Projects Selected In World’s First Innovation And Targeted Oil & Gas Leasing Round, I wrote about how ESB and DOT were working together on Malin Sea Wind.

This update on the Dublin Offshore web site describes the Malin Sea Wind project.

In the early days of North Sea oil and gas, I saw relationships like these form and blossom. You could argue that the success of the project management system; Artemis, that I wrote, benefitted from close relationships with major oil companies and large international engineering companies.

History is just repeating itself.

 

April 12, 2023 Posted by | Energy | , , , , , , | 1 Comment