航运新机遇:海上风能发电

European off shore wind projects generate shipping opportunities

如果海上风能热潮继续强有力地进行下去，那么就需要不断地寻找缩短时间和降低成本的方法。

The groups involved are aware of the need to keep finding ways to reduce time and costs if the bandwagon is to keep on rolling strongly. This is the Wind Ambition, which started life as a Baltic ferry working for people such as Stena and Norway Line. The vessel is now controlled by C-bed Floating Hotels, a Dutch company that is making a business out of converting ferries for use as accommodation units to serve offshore wind farms. The writer visits the ship after a short trip out of the harbour at Ramsgate in Kent. The London Array green power project, which Wind Ambition is supporting, will have 175 turbines under the first phase, making it the biggest of its kind in the world. As soon as it is finished here, the ferry will be on to its next project because offshore wind farms are now big business off the coast of Britain. They will soon also be significant off the shorelines of Germany, while France is also keen to get in on the act, despite the large subsidies needed to support this low carbon 'revolution'. In action on the London Array are the purpose-built MPI Adventurer, operated by MPI of Britain — an arm of Vroon in Holland — and the converted jack-up barge, Sea Worker, which is operated by A2SEA. The British government wants to see a 30% reduction in offshore costs by 2020 so that it can justify pressing the button on dozens of wind farms in even deeper waters of the North Sea. But Kaj Lindvig, chief sales officer of A2SEA, believes the maritime side of the business can deliver its part if the projects are 'industrialised' with back-to-back projects using common equipment. There are still critics who argue offshore wind energy is not good value for cash-strapped governments but every day that passes the industry keeps on growing and the opportunities for the maritime sector increase.