Market of Offshore Wind Power Installation Platform Changing from "Quantity" to "Quality"

Wang Jin

The global offshore wind power industry is showing a good trend of development. What is the market and technical status of the wind power installation platform? Recently, at the fourth China Dalian Marine Engineering Equipment Development Forum, experts analyzed the offshore wind power installation platform in depth. Overall,offshore wind power industry will continue to improve in the next few years,but due to early-stage active investment,there are many existing offshore wind power installation platforms. To meet the needs of the future offshore wind power development and improve the independent design and construction capacity has become the future development trend of offshore wind power installation platforms.

Offshore Wind Power Investment Continues to Improve

Some countries in Europe and America are the leaders of wind power generation technology in the world, where the development and utilization of wind energy has reached a relatively mature stage. European offshore wind power investment fell sharply after a peak of 2015-2016, although overall it showed an upward trend. The European Wind Energy Association had forecast that European offshore wind power projects with a final investment decision in 2018 would reach 3.9 GW, an increase of 34.5% in capacity and investment of about 9 billion euros compared with 2017. Gu Xiang, deputy director of the Offshore Engineering R&D Center of Nantong Cosco Shipyard Engineering Co., Ltd., analyzed that the actual situation for the whole of this year can basically reach this forecast level.

The industry is more optimistic about the outlook for the next few years. The European Wind Energy Association also expects that by 2020, the cumulative grid connected capacity of offshore wind power in Europe will reach 25GW, with new installations mainly coming from Britain,Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands and Denmark, with about 3.3 GW, 2.3 GW, 1.3 GW, 1.3 GW and 1.0GW,respectively, of offshore wind projects grid connected between 2018 and 2020.Gu Xiang said that in the meantime, the European offshore wind power may usher in a new installed peak.

In addition to the Nordic market,offshore wind power in China's development began to drive into the fast lane. In the period of the 12th Five-Year Plan, the installed capacity of offshore wind power in China was less than 20%of the target due to the high cost. At present, the reserves and distribution of offshore wind energy resources in China have been basically figured out, the research and development capability of offshore wind turbine generators has been obviously enhanced, the offshore wind power standard system has been initially established, the professional team has gradually been formed, and a new policy on feed-in tariffs has been issued. This treasure house of new energy is only to be excavated.

According to MAKE, a European wind power consultancy, 12 projects are under construction in China. Relevant authorities predict that by 2020, the cumulative installed capacity of offshore wind power in China will reach 9104 megawatts, with a cumulative investment of 499.1 billion yuan, with a compound annual growth rate of 51% and 23%respectively. At an average single-unit capacity of 5 megawatts, Mr Gu said, that would mean at least 2000 WTGs will be required by 2020, WTG installation, and operation and maintenance market is full of potential.

Installation Equipment Market Gradually Balanced

The offshore wind power installation platform market is in another situation.According to Gu Xiang, the current offshore wind power installation platform has been in a state of balance between supply and demand. The number of specialized offshore wind power installation platforms around the world soared from 2 in 2005 to more than 40 in 2014 after being refitted and newly built.In the last decade, domestic offshore wind power installation platforms have grown from scratch, they have been spread out in the coastal areas with abundant offshore wind power resources at a very fast growth rate. These operational offshore wind power installation platforms cover the main types of floating, bottom resting, and jack-up, with lifting capacity ranging from 250 tons to 2000 tons.

"At present, there are more than 40 offshore wind power installation platforms reviewed and under review at the CCS Offshore Engineering Technology Center," said Yang Qingxia, Director of the CCS Offshore Engineering Technology Center. It is understood that investors in these platforms not only come from wind power new energy, port and waterway engineering enterprises, but also from strong domestic shipping enterprises and shipbuilding enterprises. In addition,some financial leasing companies are also involved in the investment of construction projects.

The world will deliver a total of 12 offshore wind installation platforms in 2018-2020, with 5 in 2018, 4 in 2019 and 3 in 2020, according to data released by Clarkson in May. In the industry's view, as some of the construction projects that are already under construction and at the intended stage are not included in the statistics, more will actually be delivered in the coming years.

In view of this situation, offshore engineering experts suggest that future investment in offshore wind power installation platforms should be cautious.If you continue to invest in this area, only projects adapting to the new requirements of the WTG market in integrated functions and construction capacity will have market. In addition, the average investment cost of offshore wind power is about three times that of onshore wind power, of which the installation cost is about 20%. The offshore wind power installation platform which can effectively reduce the cost is undoubtedly more competitive.

Focusing on Enhancing Independence Ability in Future

Offshore wind power installation is more difficult than onshore wind power installation technology, which is one of the key technologies in offshore wind farm construction. In recent years, a large number of construction achievements have led to a significant increase in design and construction levels. Experts analyzed that China's shipbuilding enterprises have broken through the design and construction bottleneck of wind power installation platform. Significant progress has been made in hull strength calculation, comprehensive design of lifting system and pile-leg, dynamic positioning evaluation and other key issues.

Meanwhile, the key equipment localization hard strength also increases day by day. At present, propellers,main engines, power systems, lifting systems, deck machinery, cranes, pile holders and other key equipment can be domestically supplied in China. Among them, domestic deck machinery and crane applications have been very common.New achievements have also been made in the development of special equipment such as pile hammer and pile holder.Especially, the domestic pile holder can completely replace the import, thus changing the situation of accepting the"fixed price" passively. However, there is still a long way to go in the DP power positioning system. Experts believe that at present, some progress has been made in the relevant universities and shipping enterprises. In the future, only by strengthening cooperation and data sharing, can we achieve substantial breakthroughs.

Looking forward to the development trend of offshore wind power technology,the trend of large-scale, deep-sea WTG is irresistible. In recent years, offshore wind power single capacity has been gradually increased from the original 600kW to 2 MW, 4MW, 5MW and 6MW,with large capacity WTGs becoming the mainstream of the market. In September 2016, in the UK Burbo Bank offshore wind farm expansion project, the offshore wind installation ship “Sea Installer”successfully installed the world's largest 8 MW WTG, marking the beginning of the"8MW era" for offshore wind power. At the same time, 80% of the world's offshore wind power resources are located in water more than 60 meters deep, more and more offshore wind farms will choose the deepwater offshore layout. The global offshore wind farm averaged 22 meters in 2015 is expected to reach 41 meters by 2025,experts said.

According to the introduction, the Guideline of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology High Technology Ship Scientific Research Projects in 2018 sets the goal of completing more than 3MW, applicable to the development of floating wind power equipment with a water depth of not less than 50 meters. The Implementation Plan for Industrialization of key Technologies for High-End ships and Ocean Engineering Equipment, issued by the State Development and Reform Commission in December 2017, proposed to adopt technologies with independent intellectual property rights to build Installation and maintenance equipment of offshore wind power using two-stage dynamic positioning system with a maximum lifting capacity of 1200 tons and a maximum operating depth of 60 meters; complete offshore wind power installation platform with a maximum lifting capacity of 2000 tons.

"At present, there are at least four new wind power installation platforms for this purpose," analyzed Gu Xian, of which the designer and constructor of three platforms have been identified. With the implementation of these construction projects, the technical level of Chinese shipbuilding enterprises in the field of wind power installation platform will rise to a new level.