wiUSA December 2013

Infrastructure conference

Offshore cable JV

The Lithuania EU presidency and the European Commission organized a conference to discuss completion of the EU internal energy market by integration of energy infrastructure. “Completing the internal energy market: building an integrated European energy network” was held in Vilnius during November, and attended by around 160 high level representatives from project promoters, financial institutions, regulators, EU institutions, member states’ governments, and members of the European Economic Area and the energy community. Keynote addresses were delivered by Günther Oettinger, European commissioner for energy; Jaroslav Neverovič, minister of energy for the republic of Lithuania; Jerzy Buzek, member of European parliament; and Fatih Birol, chief economist at the International Energy Agency. Much of the discussions focused on the implementation of the 248 projects of common interest (PCIs) recently presented by the European Commission, and whether specific infrastructure targets should be introduced in the context of the upcoming 2030 Energy and Climate Package.

Royal Boskalis Westminster and Royal Volker Wessels Stevin have formed a 50/50 joint venture, Visser & Smit Marine Contracting Holding, to enter the offshore cable installation sector, particularly in relation to offshore wind farms. Visser & Smit Marine Contracting Holding will have two cable-laying vessels at its disposal, the Stemat Spirit and Ndurance . The Ndurance is due for delivery at the end of this year. Both vessels are fitted with DP class 2 equipment and a cable turntable capacity of around 5,000 tonnes. Boskalis and VolkerWessels see great potential in the collaboration. Boskalis and VolkerWessels have worked successfully together for some years on a project basis, including the installation of power cables for significant offshore wind farms such as Nordsee Ost and Meerwind in Germany, and Westermost Rough and Humber Gateway in the United Kingdom.

wiredInUSA - December 2013

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