Terminal infrastructure grows to support offshore windfarms, but industry needs more clarity on turbine sizes, electrification and alternative fuels
Optimism remains high in the nascent US offshore wind market, despite recent high-profile setbacks that could waylay the nation’s plans for 30 GW by 2030. This positivity was clearly palpable at one of the offshore wind sector’s largest conferences and trade shows held in April in New Orleans.
While “supply chain bottlenecks” and “lack of standardisation” were phrases repeated in the conference rooms and on the trade show floor at IPF, attendees remained enthusiastic, spurred on by progress on Vineyard Wind 1, off Nantucket, Massachusetts, the nation’s first commercial-scale offshore windfarm, and the ramp up of activities at Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind (CVOW) in Virginia Beach, Virginia.
Just days prior to the event’s kick-off, New York announced on 19 April that it would not move forward with its third offshore wind solicitation, side-lining the Attentive Energy One, Community Offshore Wind, and Excelsior Wind projects. At the heart of the delay was a decision by wind turbine manufacturer GE Vernova to scrap plans for the larger 18 MW Haliade-X turbine platform in favour of its “workhorse” 15.5/16.5 MW wind turbine. Those larger turbines were key commercial components of those projects.
“We do not want to get out ahead of the vessel owners and guess wrong”
While disappointing, onshore construction is still progressing on other offshore windfarms in the state: New York’s Empire Wind 1 and Sunrise Wind projects, with installation activity expected to begin in 2025, and the state has South Fork Offshore Wind and has committed to a fifth offshore wind solicitation.
Overall, the US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) increased the total capacity approved for construction by over 30% as the US more than quintupled its installed offshore wind capacity – from 42 MW to 242 MW, according to Q1 2024 data released by Oceantic Network.
Still, recent supply chain struggles and inflationary costs could put the Biden Administration’s goal of installing 30 GW of offshore wind by 2030 out of reach.
Terminal infrastructure
Shoreside infrastructure plays a critical role in offshore windfarm development. This is evident in Virginia, where eight 1,500-tonne steel monopile foundations were delivered in late February by Pan Ocean’s 17,113-dwt heavy lift vessel Sun Shine to the Portsmouth Marine Terminal. Destined for Dominion Energy’s CVOW project, the monopiles and other large components require a deepwater terminal capable of handling the massive cargo loads. A one-time container terminal, Portsmouth Marine Terminal was repurposed by the Port of Virginia to serve as a logistics hub for offshore wind.
Planned deliveries for April include 12 more monopile foundations transported by Sun Shine and another heavy lift vessel Sun Rise and 12 offshore substation pin piles carried by the heavy lift vessel Charlie. Deme Offshore’s monopile installation vessel Orion will deliver 12 grout silos. Overall, 24 monopile foundations have been staged at the Portsmouth Marine Terminal.
Once fully built out in 2026, the CVOW project will have 172 wind turbines and three offshore substations located about 27 miles off the coast of Virginia Beach. Each of the wind turbines will have a capacity of 14.7 MW, producing a total of 2.6 GW.
During March, work on removing and relocating unexploded ordnance (UXO) was underway to allow for the installation of the monopile foundations and inter-array cables in the windfarm lease area. Hornbeck Offshore Services’ multi-purpose supply vessels HOS Innovator, HOS Mystique and HOS Warland were supporting the UXO activity.
Another US-flag MPSV, Atlantic Breeze, controlled by Atlantic Oceanic, is conducting light debris relocation in support of the UXO work.
Vineyard Offshore progresses
Meanwhile, about 24 km south of Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket, Massachusetts, Vineyard Wind 1 started generating power to the grid on 2 January. The offshore windfarm when built out will have 62 13-MW wind turbines, producing about 800 MW of electricity. Plans are to complete construction by the end of 2024.
A feeder solution that employs specially equipped barges and tugs to feed components to the installation vessel is being pioneered for the windfarm.
“The feeder system keeps the installation vessel in the windfarm doing installation work”
“The Barge Master system is working as planned,” Foss Offshore Wind director of business development, Courtney Bradbury, PE, told Riviera Maritime Media. One of the logistical challenges for transporting components from the New Bedford Marine Terminal to the Vineyard Offshore windfarm site is the New Bedford Hurricane Protection Barrier, which extends across the New Bedford and Fairhaven Harbor to protect the local municipalities from tidal flooding associated with hurricanes and coastal storms. “But we are on our 12th cycle of delivering the turbines to the windfarm,” said Mr Bradbury, noting that the innovative feeder system “keeps the installation vessel in the windfarm doing installation work and keeps us doing what we do best; moving cargo with tugs and barges.”
Two existing heavy construction barges were converted for the feeder service. Both were equipped with Barge Master motion compensated platforms and outfitted with quick-connect systems to allow the GE Haliade X tower components to remain stable during transport and safely lifted off during installation. Barge Master says the system can compensate for weights of up to 1,500 tonnes in sea states of Hs 2.5 m.
New terminal developed
The New Bedford Foss Marine Terminal was originally scheduled to be fully operational in 2024, but several hurdles — namely Covid, supply chain unrest, the invasion of Ukraine, and delays in the offshore wind schedule — meant the project “slid to the right,” Foss Offshore Wind vice president Sloane Perras told us, noting, “We have matched our terminal development to the offshore wind development schedule.” She said the 26-acre terminal will be about 50% operational by 2026-27, and “fully operational by 2029-30 when the current pipeline of tri-regional projects in Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island kick into their construction phase.”
The privately owned New Bedford Foss Marine Terminal has the typical suite of services, with offices, warehousing, laydown storage, and vessel services, including electrification and fuelling. “We are planning on having traditional and alternative types of energy. We will see what type of energy takes hold in the northeast, whether it is hydrogen, methanol, ammonia or ethanol,” said Ms Perras.
An old electrical power plant established by Thomas Edison on the site was demolished to make way for the terminal. Ms Perras said: “The site is cabled for electricity but every building on the site must be custom built for the tenant in the offshore wind market.”
While plans call for all the docks and shoreside to have power, one sticking point is what type of connection systems will be used by vessels to plug into shore power. “We need continuity from the operators as to what sort of plug they want to use. Part of the strategy for electrification is understanding the vessels that will be used at the facility and what sort of plug-in functionality they have,” she said. Added Ms Perras: “It’s pegs and holes and figuring out the right combination of options to have available. This requires high communication between Foss and the developers, but also their Tier 1 and Tier 2 contractors who will be charting in the PSVs, SOVs and CTVs.”
She said standardisation was key. “Standardisation around electrification would help ports to provide that alternative power and bring down carbon emissions. The industry needs to coalescence around a smaller number of options so we can facilitate the solutions.”
Ms Perras said Foss Offshore Wind was looking closely at opportunities available under the Clean Ports Program, as well as trying to ensure that the facility is as carbon neutral as possible.
“Once we see the pipeline of vessels that are being built in the US, we will understand what type of alternative fuel source the industry is leaning into, then we will decide on what type of fuel we are going to bring into our facility. The one thing we do not want to do is get out ahead of the vessel owners and guess wrong and not be able to help them lower their emissions. This industry must be as transparent as possible so we can all reach our carbon-neutral objectives.”
Ms Perras pointed to California as a potential signpost for alternative fuels in the US. She said the state’s “carbon-neutral requirements will help lead the United States in a direction because of the volume of vessels that operate in those waters.”
Sister company Foss Maritime operates harbour tugs in California, and vessels are being repowered to be consistent with the California guidelines. The state regulations, which went into effect in 2023 and will phase in over time, will require all commercial harbour craft to operate with renewable diesel fuel blends by 2030.
In summing up, Ms Perras said standardisation was the biggest challenge for Foss Offshore Wind. “If we could be transparent about standardisation across the industry, we would get to deployment faster,” she concluded.
© 2023 Riviera Maritime Media Ltd.