Floating offshore wind: Opportunities for shipyards, shipowners and ports

The growth of the bottom-fixed offshore wind sector is a reality in many regions. In parallel, the growth of floating offshore wind is starting to become a reality, and both industrial sectors are very promising and ambitious developments in the coming decades. In order to fulfil these expectations, industrialization processes, constructions, and locations capable of hosting considerable sizes of floating wind platforms, which must be built on a serial basis, are undoubtedly necessary, and shipyards and port facilities will be key to achieving these targets. The first part of the presentation will show the current status of this type of floaters, sizes, materials and manufacturability needs, as well as the evolutions that are taking place in these technologies so that they can be manufactured in shipyards and adapt to proper manufacturing processes in order to reduce costs and delivery times. On the other hand, the advent of offshore wind farms to commercial stages, both floating and fixed, requires highly specialized vessels and fleets in this sector. These are highly specialized and innovative vessels with very specific criteria and characteristics, with the capacity to transport, install, operate, and maintain wind farms in the medium and long term. The second part of the presentation will show both the imminent need of these specialized vessels and their most important features.