Norwegian lighting supplier Glamox has racked up another couple of wins in the offshore wind sector, signing contracts to outfit ships that will support two separate wind farms under construction in the Dogger Bank section of the North Sea off the northeastern coast of England.
Oslo-based Glamox will provide some 15,000 light points to six ships, four operated by Oslo’s IWS Fleet AS, and two by Copenhagen-based Cadeler.
The lights are mostly all LED, ranging from general illumination linear and downlights, to navigational, signal, search, emergency, and floodlighting.
Glamox has a strong background in supplying marine and offshore wind businesses. New CEO Astrid Simonsen Joos has pledged expansion into other areas such as human-centric lighting where it already has a presence and IoT, while at the same time stating a continued commitment to maritime activities, especially with offshore wind poised for global growth.
The IWS and Cadeler contracts reaffirm those intentions.
"The offshore market is experiencing a Klondike moment with investments in traditional offshore energy and strong demand for energy from renewable sources to meet 2050 net zero targets," said Simonsen Joos, the former Signify executive who joined as Glamox boss in August. "Glamox has an impressive track record serving this global market and offers a complete one-stop-shop capability for technical lighting for wind farms and their support vessels."
Dogger Bank is an expansive area of shallower water in the North Sea that spans U.K., Danish, Dutch, and German territory, while sitting closest to the U.K. (it takes its name from the Doggerland land bridge that once connected Britain to mainland Europe). Wind farm plans and activity date back some 15 years, during which time project ownership and management has shifted on several occasions.
The IWS fleet is supporting the project known as Dogger Bank Wind Farm, run by Scotland’s SSE Renewables. It has three different sections — Dogger Bank A, B, and C — and could become the world’s largest offshore wind farm, with a combined 3.6-GW capacity.
Cadeler is supporting what is now known as the Sofia Offshore Wind Farm (formerly called Teeside B), which will be a 1.4-GW operation, led by Germany’s RWE.
The vessels are under construction in China, by China Merchant Heavy Industry in the case of IWS, and by Cosco Shipping (Qidong) Offshore Co., Ltd. in the case of Cadeler.
Glamox described the four IWS vessels as "commissioning service operation vessels (CSOV)," noting of the "Skywalker" class ships that "These zero-emission, highly sustainable ships will specialize in supporting the construction of wind farms and are equipped with cranes and walk-to-work' gangways for safe access to offshore structures."
It called the two Cadeler "X-class" ships "wind turbine installation vessels (WTIV)" and said that they will be able to transport and install seven complete 15-MW turbine sets per load or five sets of 20+-MW turbines. Each can accommodate 130 people.
The lights for the two classes of ships will all be LED, except for five xenon searchlights on the Cadeler vessels, Glamox told LEDs Magazine.
MARK HALPER is a contributing editor for LEDs Magazine, and an energy, technology, and business journalist ([email protected]).
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