A2SEA (owned 51% by DONG Energy and 49% by Siemens Wind Power) has signed a contract with Chinese company, COSCO Shipyard Group Co., Ltd., for the construction of a new jack-up vessel specially designed for the purpose of installation of offshore wind turbines. The contract has a value of USD 155 million (approx. DKK 890 million).
In 2010 A2SEA also signed a contract for a new vessel, SEA INSTALLER, for offshore installation. The new agreement with COSCO Shipyard Group Co., Ltd. is for a vessel identical to SEA INSTALLER, but extended by a longer crane able to lift up to 900 tonnes, which is 100 tonnes more than SEA INSTALLER. The new vessel will be able to meet the development in the off-shore wind industry with larger turbines engineered for offshore use.
The new vessel is expected to be delivered in 2014. It will be designed as a jack-up vessel optimised to operate at water depths of up to 45 meters, and it will therefore be well-fitted for the installation of upcoming offshore wind projects in the Northern European offshore market. The new jack-up vessel will, thus, be an important step towards the further industrialisation of the offshore wind industry to lower cost of energy.
“With the fast growing offshore market in the Northern Europe, we can already today see that the demand for vessels for installation will grow dramatically. With the new installation vessel, we are well prepared to meet that demand and strengthen our position as supplier of installation services,” says Jens Frederik Hansen, CEO, A2SEA.
“It is very important to us that we are able to meet the demand of tomorrow, when the offshore parks along with the size of the turbines are growing in size. With the new vessel we take a big step continuing to shorten the time of installation and thereby bringing down the cost of energy from offshore wind energy,” says Jens Frederik Hansen, CEO, A2SEA.
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Offshore WIND staff, March 23, 2012; Image: cosco