Innovation and expertise of Dutch companies in the offshore wind industry are reflected in the transaction to Norway.
In the most recent Creditnotes, you were able to read about the transaction to Hafvram in Norway. This transaction involved two Dutch suppliers, namely GustoMSC and Huisman. In this Creditnotes, Karel Wagner, Sales Manager of GustoMSC, tells us more about the organisation and the lifting platforms, known as jack-ups, used at sea worldwide.
With about 300 employees, GustoMSC is part of the US-based NOV group, with a total of about 32000 employees.
NOV is a supplier of equipment for the energy sector in the widest sense, and within this group, GustoMSC specialises in designing offshore vessels and supplying related equipment such as heavy-lift cranes. Globally, they are a major supplier of lifting platforms, called jack-ups in the jargon. GustoMSC has designed the vast majority of jack-ups for the offshore wind industry, which are currently in operation and under construction. These jack-ups from the Schiedam-based company have already provided installation of thousands of wind turbines and associated foundations at sea.
The company started almost 120 years ago as a shipyard and then started building more and more specialised systems. For example, GustoMSC designed and built the first jack-up in Europe as early as 1959. But where initially the oil and gas industry was a major customer, in recent years there has been a clear shift towards customers active in renewable energy.
Since 2000, we have seen offshore wind becoming increasingly important. The energy transition is therefore an important development for us for the future. Just like the transaction for Hafvram, currently about 80% of the enquiries we receive are offshore wind related. In this transaction to Hafvram, our responsibilities include designing the so-called basic design, supplying the lifting system and technical services for installation. The basic design actually consists of the construction drawings for the jack-up to be sent to the yard in China, CIMC Yantai. The lifting system has to be completely built in, so we deliver this in parts, and our own engineers are involved in the installation in China. So basically the Chinese shipyard is our customer. CIMC in turn is a customer of Hafvram."
The lifting system is very ingenious. Through the ‘Rack & Pinion Jacking System’, a kind of electric motor with several gears, the legs can move up and down. Once the legs are on the seabed, the jack-up can be stabilised and placed in its entirety above sea level. The system is designed to withstand loads during sailing, positioning of the legs, lifting up, heavy crane operations and storm conditions.
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Wagner: ‘Many existing jack-ups were delivered in 2012-2014. At the time, we developed them for 3.6 MW wind turbines, but over the years they have been upgraded several times so that they can also accommodate 15-16 MW turbines. Because this market was changing so rapidly, in 2016 we also looked at the future of offshore wind with other players in the market. Based on the expectations from this study, the NG-20000X, among others, was developed. A wind turbine installation jack-up design suitable for the installation of turbines of 20MW and larger and now under construction for several customers. But we are also currently looking at designs for even larger jack-ups such as the NG-25000X so that we remain relevant in the future when installing even larger turbines and foundations."
For the Hafvram transaction, the Norwegian company clearly chose GustoMSC's engineering combined with the jack-up lifting system for the NG-20000X design, the largest lifting system delivered so far. In consultation with Havfram, the design was adapted to Havfram's specific requirements for the future. The legs have a length of about 120 metres, the length of a football pitch. This allows them to work at sea to a depth of about 70 metres. For now, the market can get on with this, but rapid developments do bring challenges.
Wagner: ‘The process with a customer quickly takes 1-2 years before a contract is signed. Moreover, the customer must also have a contract with a yard, and in some cases like Hafvram, (project) financing must also be arranged. So these are trajectories you do need to take your time. That is why we always enter into discussions with the customer about the interpretation and the specific properties that are needed, also for the longer term. And that means we are sometimes challenged to come up with completely new solutions. For instance, we are exploring new markets such as deep sea mining, and for the future we see interesting opportunities in floating wind and service & maintenance vessels."
Norway's Norse Bank is financing part of Hafvram's transaction over 12 years for over €100 million. Credit insurance with a 95% cover rate has been taken out with Atradius DSB for this purpose. This allows Dutch exporters GustoMSC and Huisman to supply and De Norse Bank limits its risk on Hafvram.
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