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Mr Kurt E Thomsen, co-founder and managing director of the Danish company A2SEA a/s, sponsoring the EHLG meeting at Copenhagen, attracted attention of the audience by his lecture about new heavy transport techniques. The Fredericia based enterprise only established last year mainly as an investor, specialises in the installation of wind power plants and wind turbines in coastal shelves. A2SEA a/s ams to put strategies for soft environmental energy supply into action as requested by the Kyoto protocol last year. Denmark only intends to fulfill her contribution to the Kyoto convention by generating 40% of the country`s energy demand from wind power plants by 2030, about 75% of which performed by offshore plants on the North Sea coast.
In the pre-stage of A2SEA, the Danish Crane Consulting a/s, established by Kurt E Thomsen in 1995 with two transport divisions for offshore and onshore operations has developed a comprehensive range of special transport equipment and crane vessels to handle, transport and install wind power plants of 120 tons weight into their offshore foundations. The first of totally four crane ships to be converted from convetional cargo vessels with superstructions up to 60 to 75 metres above ship`s deck and lifting capacities up to 420 tons will be commissioned shortly. Three other identical vessels of 14 knots service speed each capable of stowing six to eight power plants on their decks for installation in one go in water depths of up to 15 metres will have to be put in operation by April 2002 to meet obligations for contracts.
Kurt Thomsen: 'For these operations we have developed completely new techniques, such for positioning of the vessels at points of installation at wind speeds of up to 12m/s, for scoring of the foundation place on the sea bottom, planning of sea bottom before lowering down the heavy foundations etc.
Apart from the crane ships the concept invovles service vessels available for maintaining tasks throughout the year at any day or night time guaranteeing full performance of the wind power plants, also crane barges of 10,000 tow with movable deck gantry crane to handle most heavy foundation blocks, a special pier with layout and equipment especially designed for handling, storage and assembling of components, including a crawler craw of 650 tons capacity of the Demag CC2500 type with 72m lifting height which might roll on and off the barge deck to be transferred to other points of operation in European waters.
Most of the components for wind turbines and power plants are supplied by manufacturers from Denmark and Germany, according to Mr Thomsen, both the world`s leading markets for offshore wind power plants. The Danish specialist expects that presently 50 to 60 plants are scheduled to be installed even this year in European offshore shelves, while in 2002 the number will rise to another 80 plants. I following years the annual demand for new offshore power plants will fall into a normal swing of 30 to 40 a year, Mr Thomsen predicts.
From Germany, enquiries are recieved for installation of wind power plants of up to 250 tons total weight and 120m high. A2SEA meets etchnical challenge for handling such huge plants by design of shipboard cranage of up to 450 tons capacity. But in the further range of development it would derive no problems to design equipment of 600 or 800 tons capacity for handling giant plants with a diameter of propeller blades of up to 130 metres, the Danish expert stated. EHLG member Team Ship A/S recently has been appointed agent for world-wide marketing to the A2SEA concept. Also contacts for cooperation have been introduced between A2SEA a/s and German EHLG associate member CargoLifter AG.
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