Construction companies are building offshore wind farms two to three times faster than in the past and are helping offshore wind developers bring down the amount of subsidies needed for the projects to materialize, Pieter van Oord, Chief Executive Officer of Van Oord, said on the sidelines of the Offshore WIND Conference in Amsterdam.
One of the main reasons for the increase in the speed of construction is that the offshore wind industry is becoming more mature, Van Oord said, allowing the construction companies to improve by repetition.
Looking ahead, Van Oord is preparing its installation vessels, Svanen and Aeolus, for the next generation turbines in the range of 9MW to 12MW.
The company has also added a cable laying vessel to its fleet in an effort to position itself as a turnkey solutions provider both in construction and O&M segments, Van Oord said.
Commenting on the possibility that more companies active in the oil & gas industry could potentially enter the offshore wind market, Van Oord said that more competition can only be beneficial to the industry as it will bring innovations, new approaches and, ultimately, cost reductions.
The Borssele III and IV offshore wind project, which Van Oord is developing through the consortium of Shell, Van Oord, Eneco and Mitsubishi/DGE, will most likely reach financial close in 2018 and the offshore construction will probably start in 2019, Van Oord said, adding that the company will be in charge of the entire Balance of Plant for the project.
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