*Article published in CRANE BRASIL Ed. 83
The growing worldwide search for clean and renewable energy has challenged engineering for effective, scalable, competitive solutions that meet the demand for replacing fossil energy.
Among them, the one that currently stands out the most is wind energy, which has, among others, the following advantages over fossil energy:
- Energy production is directly non-emitting pollutants;
- Having the wind as a source, it is free from price variations of raw materials such as oil, coal, gas, biomass, among others, whose prices can vary greatly depending on supply, demand, geopolitical events, etc.;
- This raw material independence makes costs and usage much more predictable. For example, it is much easier to answer: “how much will a wind generator cost in 2030” than to answer “how much will a barrel of oil cost in 2030”;
- Energy production is local, allowing decentralization and reduction of transmission costs;
- It is a sustainable and, in practice, inexhaustible source.
Among the challenges of wind energy are:
- Price competitiveness in relation to existing energy sources;
- Scarcity of areas with potential for wind energy production;
- Noise, visual pollution and impact on the region’s fauna.
With the growth of onshore projects and the need for more efficient energy production, in response to the challenges of onshore wind farms, wind farms are being built at sea, away from the coast, or offshore, with more powerful and efficient generators, greater availability of areas, without impact of noise and visual pollution.
However, this new positioning brings other challenges, to be overcome by Brazilian construction and lifting engineering. The following table provides a summary of activities and demands.
| Structure | Description | Demands | Experience and availability of Brazilian Engineering |
| Gravity foundation, for shallow water | Usually reinforced concrete or prestressed, resting on the treated seabed | Construction Dry docks, floating docks or cofferdams Small and medium-sized land cranes medium-sized goats service ferries large tugs | Excellent control of concrete Few offshore installation works in Brazil. Example: platforms PUB-1 to PUB-3 (1975 to 1982) Active tug fleet (AHTS) Low availability of goats |
| Monopile or tube, for shallow waters up to 40 meters | Corresponds to about 80% installed in the world, consisting of a large diameter welded steel tube, driven into the seabed | Metalworking construction Port infrastructure with large cranes Large service ferries medium-sized tugboats Medium to large offshore cranes | Excellent domain of metal mechanics Many offshore installation works Tug fleet (AHTS) active Low availability of goats Low availability of large offshore cranes |
| Jackets with “topside” | Large metallic structures to support electrical substations | Shipbuilding Small to large land cranes port infrastructure load out equipment Large service ferries Medium to large tugs Large offshore cranes | Excellent mastery of shipbuilding Many offshore installation works Tug fleet (AHTS) active Low availability of large offshore cranes |
| Submarine control, monitoring and distribution network | Subsea cables and equipment | Port infrastructure Ferries or cable-laying ships Medium-sized service ferries for shallow waters medium-sized tugboats Medium-sized offshore cranes | Low availability of ferries or cable-laying ships Medium-sized service ferries A lot of experience in laying pipelines and Low availability of barges or cable laying ships Medium-sized service ferries Extensive experience in laying subsea pipelines and equipment |
One of the expected bottlenecks is the low availability of offshore construction and lifting vessels, including vessels specialized in lifting offshore wind farms (see Crane Brasil 82). Currently, with strong world construction demand, new vessels of this type will be needed.
In addition to all the infrastructure and equipment, there will be a strong demand for specialized labor in the following areas:
– Offshore lifting engineering;
– Engineering of offshore structures;
– Geotechnics of offshore foundations;
– Naval engineering;
– Maritime transport of large loads;
– Electrical and instrumentation engineering;
– Subsea engineering.
As in Brazil there is no experience with offshore wind, these professionals are mainly working in the oil and gas area, which should generate some competition for this workforce or the use of foreign engineering at the beginning of projects.
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