International Conference Offshore Foundations 2017

Monopiles are by far the most employed foundation type, taking up 78% of the market share. This is primarily due to the number of initial projects in shallow to medium depth waters and their simplicity in design/installation. In addition, monopiles proved to be especially popular during the development of Round 1 and 2 projects in the UK. Gravity-base foundations (9%) have been primarily favoured in Denmark and Sweden, and jackets (5%) in Germany and Belgium. Offshore logistics, in other words transport and installation, is very important because there is a lot of room for cost-improvements. Large and very expensive crane vessels could be replaced in the future by self-installing substations that are floated rather than shipped in. There are strict European regulations regarding the environmental impact during installation. Tools and systems are required to reduce the noise and vibration during this phase