Treasured Turbines

RENEWABLES ig increases in renewable energy installations look to put a powerful wind beneath the wings of U.S. project cargo TREASURED transportation for decades to come. BAs sure as the wind blows, North American demand for wind energy is flying high, according to government and trade association projections, TURBINES meaning those engaged in transport of the blades, turbines, nacelles, towers and related oversize components used in capturing it may just have to hold onto their proverbial hats. U.S. Wind Energy Boom to Power With lower costs of wind power generation, extended production tax credits, and moves by for- Heavy-Lift Imports, Exports ward-thinking corporations and state legislatures to reduce carbon footprints, the American Wind Energy Association has set its sights on doubling BY PAUL SCOTT ABBOTT U.S. wind energy capacity over the next five years. ABOVE: A section of tower for a wind installation is strapped to a specialized truck and taken to an under-construction wind farm. / Credit: Suzlon 36 BREAKBULK MAGAZINE www.breakbulk.com ISSUE 4 / 2016 PORTOFLONGVIEW.COM | T. 360-425-3305 F. 360-425-8650 | 10 PORT WAY, LONGVIEW, WASHINGTON 98632 RENEWABLES Utility companies see wind power providing energy security by diversify- ing the electricity generation portfolio, “Wind is winning.... The challenge is to make protecting against volatile natural gas renewable technology so cheap that it’s the price spikes, while using an environmen- tally friendly domestic source of energy. obvious choice.” – Chris Brown, Vestas Wind Systems Many utilities have signed long-term, fixed-price contracts for wind energy, often involving bringing the power The EIA report shows wind surpass- Maryland, Vermont and Hawaii have across state lines. ing coal as early as 2028 to become the passed laws requiring greater integra- Lest anyone be fearful of throwing second-largest U.S. electricity generation tion of renewable energy, while corporate caution to the wind, the U.S. govern- source, behind only natural gas. buyers including Google, Amazon and ment continues to make projections for The Obama administration’s Clean Facebook are securing greater amounts very healthy increases in the amount of Power Plan, promulgated in August 2015 of wind power to lower carbon footprints energy that will be produced by wind. by the U.S. Environmental Protection and keep long-term costs under control. A May 2016 report from the U.S. Agency to take effect in 2022, features Energy Information Administration, carbon reduction targets supporting SHIPPING DEMAND GROWS or EIA, presents one scenario show- objectives for renewables – especially Whereas much of the federal report- ing 112 gigawatts of new U.S. wind and wind and solar – to become the No. 2 ing and various targets highlight solar capacity being added through U.S. power generation source by 2030. anticipated reductions in emissions 2021. The new capacity would more Also, in December 2015, U.S. Congress associated with cleaner energy, the prog- than double the nation’s current wind extended for five years the tax credit nostications undeniably indicate that capacity of 74.5 gigawatts, already program for generation of electricity substantial new wind farms will be com- enough to power more than 20 million from wind plants, with the level of cred- ing online and thus lots more wind power homes. The EIA report also presents its incrementally declining until they components will have to be shipped. a case for wind generation growing expire at the end of 2021, when the Clean As one might expect, Chris Brown, nearly 150 percent from 2015 through Power Plan is slated to go into effect. chairman of the American Wind Energy 2040. Some goals are even loftier. For Association, or AWEA, is among those example, the Democratic Party platform who are extremely bullish on wind as a going into November’s presidential elec- North American energy source. Wind energy installations such as tion calls for renewable sources fulfilling “Wind is winning,” said Brown, who northwestern Indiana’s Meadow Lake 100 percent of U.S. energy needs by 2050. is president of Vestas Americas and group Wind Farm, with enough capacity to While that goal might well be unat- senior vice president power 169,000 homes, are becoming tainable, it is unquestionable that political of Denmark-based increasingly prevalent in North America. and corporate standard-bearers are jump- Vestas Wind Sys- ing on the wind bandwagon. Legislatures tems, the world’s No. Credit: Paul Scott Abbott in such states as California, Oregon, 1 provider of wind turbines, during an AWEA conference held in New Orleans in May. “While our fuel is free, our cus- tomers know, the machines aren’t free,” Brown told Chris Brown the audience. “The Vestas Wind Systems challenge is to make renewable technology so cheap that it’s the obvious choice. “That’s why we’ve driven down costs by technology advancement including longer rotors, taller towers, advanced controls and product reliability,” he said. “Investor appetite has grown, also lowering the cost of capital. And, as a result, the real cost of wind power in the U.S. has dropped by more than 60 percent” since 2009. 38 BREAKBULK MAGAZINE www.breakbulk.com ISSUE 4 / 2016 RENEWABLES Highland Project Logistics moves Vestas why wind was the largest source of new blades from Colorado to Houston. electricity in 2015, with more coming online than solar or natural gas. Credit: GPLN “Wind power’s growth is showing no signs of slowing down, with strong under-construction numbers and many Peter Kelley, AWEA’s vice president of projects in the advanced stages of devel- public affairs, said American wind power opment,” Kelley said. is on track to achieve the U.S. Department of Energy’s vision of doubling its contri- MOVING OFFSHORE bution to the U.S. power grid by 2020, to While the dynamic growth in 10 percent of the nation’s electricity, up on-land wind energy installations is from nearly 5 percent today, and poten- undeniable, companies such as Germa- tially growing to become the leading ny’s Siemens are at the fore in reducing source of American electricity by 2050, costs of generating power with offshore with a 35 percent share. wind farms, with innovations being The decreased cost of wind energy developed off the coasts of such coun- has made wind one of the cheapest new tries as Denmark (where wind already sources of electricity in some parts of the generates 40 percent of the country’s country and cost-competitive in many electricity) and Scotland. Methodolo- more, Kelley said. “That’s one reason gies include technical improvements 40 BREAKBULK MAGAZINE www.breakbulk.com ISSUE 4 / 2016 within turbines, more cost-effective also potentially averting having to cross installation practices, new grid connec- state lines, as regulations governing A veteran transportation writer for the past tion technologies, better maintenance oversize and overweight loads can vary 40 years, U.S.-based Paul Scott Abbott strategies and enhanced logistics. As a dramatically from state to state. BB specializes in maritime topics. general rule, blades for offshore wind farms are much longer than those for land-based installations. This summer, the final stage of construction began on the first such U.S. offshore installation, the five-turbine Block Island Wind Farm off Rhode Island. Nearing approval from New York utility authorities is a 15-turbine project to be built off the south fork of Long Island. These and other endeavors indicate that regulatory hurdles and court battles that for years had kept wind farms from spring- ing up off U.S. shores are being surmounted. Rakesh Sarin, CEO of interna- tional business and global service at India-based Suzlon, which ranks among the world’s top five wind turbine Rakesh Sarin suppliers, said the growth of wind Suzlon power brings more business, but also challenges for the logistics industry. Larger turbines, taller towers and longer blades make shipping more com- plex, Sarin said, leading to a greater number of components for the American market being made on U.S. soil. “The U.S. has shifted to domestic manufacturing because of transportation costs and the structure of the wind project,” Sarin said. “Apart from the domestic manufacturing ramping up, the size of turbines is also increasing, result- ing in the rise in the logistics cost. “Shipment of components within the Friendly Neighbors U.S. is a big business because of the huge market,” Sarin said. “As road transportation is costly, the manufacturers prefer & A SWEET ECONOMY to ship through water and rail. Largely, railway transport is being used for the heavy components.” THE PORT OF MOBILE Sarin said companies are trying to Alabama State Port Authority locate component manufacturing as www.asdd.com close as possible to wind farm sites, not only reducing transportation costs but www.breakbulk.com BREAKBULK MAGAZINE 41 RENEWABLES WIND-RELATED EXPORTS RISE Increasing U.S. turbine-related growth in the project industry, and production is heightening export learned that these components were opportunities for domestic project going to continually grow in size cargo ports, adding to the extensive and weight,” Smith said. “We found import activity now taking place. that shore cranes needed to have Jarl Pedersen, chief commercial capabilities to handle these oversize officer at Port Corpus Christi on the and heavier shipments, such as wind Texas Gulf Coast, said his port is energy blades, which can now exceed prepared to increasingly use infra- 200 feet in length.” structure originally purposed for This spurred the Port of Vancou- inbound shipments to handle out- ver USA to invest in its first Liebherr bound activity, just as it has recently heavy-lift crane in 2006, and soon a Jarl Pedersen Alastair Smith done with its facilities for handling a second similar unit, as well as partner more traditional energy cargo – crude Port Corpus Christi Port of Vancouver USA with stevedoring and longshore union oil – in response to shifting global leaders in a new crane operator train- demand and lifting of a federal export Corpus Christi is a wind energy ing program providing certification in ban.

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