$3 billion forecast to be invested in new anchor handlers to meet floating wind demand.
Floating wind is an emerging technology. Currently being tested in small scale demonstration and pilot projects, global floating wind commissioned capacity at the end of 2022 was less than 200 MW. By 2030, close to 11 GW of commercial scale wind farms are planned to be commissioned in Europe and the Asia Pacific Region. 2030-2035 will see a period a high commissioning activity as the USA joins established European and Asia Pacific markets. Floating installed capacity is forecast to reach 63 GW by 2035, which translates to the installation of close to 4,000 floating turbines, over 16,000 anchors and close to 17,000 mooring lines.
Whereas floating wind projects will leverage experiences from the bottom-fixed industry, there will also be many differences, particularly in how floating turbines are constructed and installed, as shown in the graphic below. The differences drive demand for a different type of vessel than seen for bottom-fixed offshore wind projects.
For floating wind projects, we will see the largest anchor handlers and light subsea construction vessels deployed to pre-install mooring systems designed to maintain the position of the floating wind turbines, to tow the structures from port and to hook-up the floating turbines to pre-existing moorings. For example, our analysis identifies the optimal size of AHTS for mooring pre-lay as having a bollard pull of at…
