Wind energy OEMs Siemens Gamesa and Vestas – in cooperation with Energy Cluster Denmark– have signed a partnership agreement to increase standardisation in the wind industry, the initial focus trained on tower transportation equipment.
The first area to benefit from a standardised approach relates to seafastening – fixing towers, blades and nacelles to installation vessels. Vestas, Siemens Gamesa and several subcontractors recently collaborated on common lifting equipment and tower base design.
Currently, whenever a wind turbine tower is shipped out for offshore installation, the manufacturer welds a box onto the installation vessel to which the tower is then clamped. The process is costly in terms of tons of iron and labour on the quayside. Once installation offshore is completed, all the equipment is removed from the vessel, which is again costly in terms of hours, money and efficiency.
“In 2027, there will be far too many offshore wind farm projects on the drawing board relative to the number of installation vessels available. This presents difficulties for the green transition, for us as manufacturers and indeed for our entire value and supply chain,” said Jesper Møller, chief engineer, offshore execution at Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy. “That is why we have chosen to enter into a new partnership with Vestas to optimise the cost-intensive equipment each of our companies delivers today. Standardisation will allow us quite simply to ship out more turbine parts faster.”
Morten Baungaard Nielsen, lead project manager, global supply chain, global transport readiness at Vestas, added: “It makes perfect sense for us to develop common standards so that we manufacturers do not have to take charge of large chunks of the logistics. By shifting more of our costs out into the value chain, we save money and boost our subcontractors’ business. Ultimately, standardisation is of benefit to the production of green power that everyone is asking us to deliver.”
Moreover, “now we’re looking for people, companies, anyone willing to help us do things smarter – we are keen to engage in a dialogue with everyone in the wind industry value chains – including our competitors,” said Baungaard Nielsen.
