<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">US wind energy capacity reached 100 GW in the third quarter of 2019, and with another 45.6 GW in the development pipeline, heavy-haul trucking carriers may struggle to keep pace with demand.</div>

US wind energy capacity reached 100 GW in the third quarter of 2019, and with another 45.6 GW in the development pipeline, heavy-haul trucking carriers may struggle to keep pace with demand.

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<div class="phx-topic">Growing demand from the “thriving” wind energy market in the United States is putting a strain on resources for those companies tasked with transporting the massive project components that go into wind power installations, Steven Todd, vice president of the Specialized Carriers and Rigging Association (SC&amp;RA), told JOC.com.US wind energy capacity hit the “century” mark in the third quarter of 2019, with 100 gigawatts (GW) of capacity now providing energy across the country. A record 1,927 megawatts (MW) of capacity went online during the three months ended Sept. 30, according to the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA), providing renewable energy to 32 million homes, the equivalent of the states of California and New Jersey combined.And with another 45.6 GW currently moving through the installation pipeline, developers and manufacturers need to nail down their transportation requirements early, and heavy-haul trucking companies should reevaluate their fleet capacity and driver needs, according to Todd.The current phasing down and scheduled expiration of the federal production tax credit (PTC) in 2023, combined with a 69 percent reduction in the cost of wind energy in the last decade, mean that the heavy-haul trucking industry can expect demand for the delivery and installation of wind turbines to continue to increase, he said.“I plead for developers and manufacturers to have flexibility in their delivery schedules and allow both our industry and state and local governments [which issue heavy-haul over-the-road trucking permits] as much lead time as possible,” Todd told JOC.com. “We, of course, are pleased when our industry is thriving, as it currently is, and we expect it to continue throughout 2020 and beyond, particularly in the wind industry. However, too much volume can put a strain on us, in terms of specialized trailer inventory and specialized driver availability.”“We pretty much have our equipment booked through 2020 and [the demand] will not fall off in 2021,” added Brandon Brown, vice president of operations and project management for Lone Star Transportation. “[It's] different from the doom and gloom that was predicted a year or so ago.” Based in Fort Worth, Texas, the heavy-haul trucking company works directly with major turbine manufacturers such as GE Wind Energy, Siemens Gamesa, Vestas, Nordex USA, and Goldwind.<h2>OEM perspective</h2>Thomas Sender Mehl, manager of transport construction and maintenance for Vestas in Aarhus, Denmark, said manufacturers are already seeing a shortage of trailers available for the transport of giant windmill blades. Meanwhile, cargo volume is increasing. “We’re shipping 4,000 turbines globally [in 2019], and next year it is definitely going up,” he told JOC.com. Mehl heads the manufacturer’s product function engineering within its power solutions business unitSome markets where demand for wind energy had been relatively low are starting to come around now that production costs have dropped, Mehl said, adding that Vestas is still seeing huge demand in global markets such as Mexico, Poland, Latin America, and Europe.Vestas is collaborating with SC&amp;RA, trucking companies, trailer manufacturers, railroads and ports, and even rivals GE and Siemens Gamesa to “stimulate the American trailer market,” Mehl said. Goals include creating and introducing a standard for new blade trailers, modifying the current fleet of existing trailers, and keeping both elements cost-effective and functional for all supply chain participants. “We don’t want to create new [heavy-haul] trailers that do not make sense,” Mehl said of the effort.At the same time, the Vestas transport executive said the manufacturer is “looking at other options” for moving entire wind turbines without having to navigate city highways and country roads. One potential solution could be airships, helium-filled blimps that are essentially “balloon air freighters,” he said, similar to those the US Army occasionally uses.Logistics experts looked at this potential solution 10 years ago, “but at that time people said, ‘Are you crazy?’ Today it could be cost efficient,” Mehl said.<h2>View from the ground</h2>Lone Star Transportation, predominantly an over-dimensional, open-bay, open-deck specialized carrier, generates 20 percent to 25 percent of its annual revenues from the wind industry, with the balance moving project cargoes for the oil and gas, construction, and aerospace industries, according to Brown.“We typically manage the movement of the entire project; the towers, blades, nacelles, and hubs,” Brown said. If the components can be railed close to the wind farm site, last-mile transport might involve 18 to 22 heavy-haul trucks with one trailer each, depending on whether the towers must be moved in four or five sections. A long haul inland from one or more ports and covering a number of states could require five to seven sets of trucks with nine to 11 trailers per set, meaning 60 to 70 total trailers for one project, Brown said.Perkins Specialized Transportation Contracting of Northfield, Minnesota, also encourages wind customers to “be more proactive” in selecting carriers well ahead of project deadlines, thanks to demand and to the increasing sizes of wind tower components. Nacelles — a cover that houses all of the components of a wind turbine — are getting bigger and heavier thanks to a shift toward low-speed wind energy production, Ray Morgan, Perkins’ vice president of sales and government affairs, told JOC.com.“All the low-hanging fruit has been picked, so now you have the low-end market — areas where the wind doesn’t blow all the time — so they have to develop larger turbines to generate more electricity at lower wind speeds and still be profitable,” he said. To move heavier nacelles and longer blades, Perkins asks for 120 days' notification before a scheduled delivery to provide time to marshal the tractors and trailers required and to secure routing permits, which may be needed from multiple states.Perkins’ priority is to find specialized carrier drivers with the expertise to pilot heavy-haul rigs, some of which stretch to nearly a football field in length, over highways and rural roads. “The moves are long in calendar days, and it’s hard to find drivers willing to put in the windshield time and be away from home for that long,” Morgan said.Added Mike Meyer, president and managing director of Longmont, Colorado-based TLG Transport, “The demand for dual-lane transportation capacity is absolutely booming. There is not enough experienced [driver] manpower and equipment to meet the current demand through 2020 through early 2021 at the rate we’re going,” he said.As the window to take advantage of the federal PTC closes, developers and end users “have been pushing their capital expenditures for turbines out as far as possible, and the compressed delivery schedules are outstripping available capacity in the marketplace. It’s a perfect storm,” he said.Still, Meyer said with the cost of heavy-haul trailers ranging from $250,000 to $1 million or more in some cases, TLG Transport has no plans to add to its equipment fleet. “Transportation providers are not going out and spending the kind of money it takes to invest in new dual-lane trailers to meet the current demand, which may only last two years, and to run the risk of not being able to recover that investment is not prudent,” he explained. A new dual-lane multi-axle trailer required to transport some nacelles can cost up to $1 million, an industry source said.Donny Reed, vice president of sales and marketing for trailer manufacturer Transmaster Trailers, based in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, confirmed that heavy-haul transportation companies are not pulling out their checkbooks. “We have a lot of inquiries about trailers for wind components from the heavy-haul transportation companies, but nobody is ordering anything,” he said.Reed agrees the wind industry is gearing up for an exceptionally strong 2021 to “qualify for the vanishing tax credit,” but he warned that “What happens after that is anyone’s guess.” At present, Transmaster’s order backlog is “pretty good until late summer 2020. Our specialty is anything steerable in stretch trailers. Thirteen-axle trailers (are) where we are seeing the most activity. We haven’t been pushing wind that hard because we are getting those mixed signals. Our backlog is strong in other industries.”On the other hand, Talbert Manufacturing, Inc., an 81-year-old manufacturer of Schnabel trailers designed for wind blades, as well as standard lowboy and flatbed trailers, is “continuing to expand robustly and looking to achieving well over a 50 percent increase in demand,” said Troy Geisler, vice president for sales and marketing at Talbert. “If someone could give us 30 welders today, we’d happily accept them. And in three months, we’re going to ask you for another 30.”Contract Chris Barnett at <a href="mailto:Chris@cbarnmedia.com">Chris@cbarnmedia.com</a>.</div>

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Energy projects

‘Thriving’ US wind market strains heavy-haul truckers

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">Two German companies join forces to work in Japan’s developing wind energy sector as the country scales back its dependence on coal and nuclear power in the wake of the 2011 tsunami and Fukushima nuclear power plant disaster. </div>

Two German companies join forces to work in Japan’s developing wind energy sector as the country scales back its dependence on coal and nuclear power in the wake of the 2011 tsunami and Fukushima nuclear power plant disaster.

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<div class="phx-topic">Germany’s Coli Schiffahrt &amp; Transport has strengthened its links to Japan’s project cargo and renewable energy market by forming a strategic partnership with Hamburg-headquartered Global Renewables Shipbrokers (GRS). Together, they will target the country’s burgeoning offshore wind energy sector.That comes as a raft of potential developers such as Germany’s RWE and Japan’s Cosmo Oil are eyeing Japan’s wind energy market, which power consultancy Wood Mackenzie said will see installed capacity surge 62-fold to 4 gigawatts by 2028.Coli-GRS met with executives from German power company RWE two weeks ago in Japan, Matthias Mross, GRS managing partner, told JOC.com.RWE established a subsidiary in Tokyo last year to target the country’s wind energy market and has agreed to cooperate with Kyuden Mirai Energy, an offshoot of Kyushu Electric Power.Cosmo Eco Power, a subsidiary of Cosmo Oil, is planning to build a 1-GW offshore wind farm, comprising 125 turbines installed in water up to 200 meters deep, in Ishikari Bay in Hokkaido. Tokyo Electric Power is also eyeing wind energy projects.“There are some interesting projects in Japan that have come up since the beginning of this year,” Johannes Detjen, a senior executive at CMC Coli Maritime Consulting, said.Renewable energy is among the options being considered by Japan as it scales back its dependence on coal and nuclear power in the wake of the 2011 tsunami and ensuing Fukushima nuclear power plant disaster. Wood Mackenzie estimated Japan could face an energy generation shortfall of more than 10 GW by 2030 as it struggles to reconfigure its power sources.“The situation in Japan has changed quite a lot and they are switching from old energy resources like coal and nuclear,” Detjen said.Under the terms of the strategic partnership, Coli will provide breakbulk and project cargo chartering and transport expertise, while GRS will supply turnkey and project management services. This includes identifying lead contractors and subcontractors primarily for the utilities and engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contractors that are developing Japan’s wind energy sector.GRS is a consultant and ship broker for the offshore wind and other renewable industries. The firm supports negotiation of all contracts across a project's development and during the installation and operations stages, taking on or overseeing the chartering of all vessels, crews, and other offshore services.“Our idea is, of course, to develop the market as described, together with GRS. But also get involved in transportation, our core business …,” said Herbert Loesing, Coli Schiffahrt &amp; Transport managing director.GRS' Mross said his primary focus will be “consulting on wind farm projects and organizing the specialized vessels to construct and maintain the facilities, including ships to help construct foundations and install turbines, blades, and monopiles and cabling.” This means GRS will source the required services under engineering, procurement, construction, and installation (EPCI) contracts and organize the deployment of jack-up installation vessels, semi-submersibles, deck carriers, offshore supply vessels, tugs, crew transfer, and construction vessels.“We have known each other for quite some time,” Mross said of the tie-up with Coli. “We have worked with each other on renewable and transportation projects.”<h2>Japan’s cabotage rules could affect vessel sourcing</h2>Mross said one issue that could affect the sourcing of vessels is likely to be Japan’s strict cabotage rules. However, while Japanese shipping companies such as NYK Bulk and Project Carriers have MPPs and open deck module carriers, he doubts that Japan possesses sufficient capacity for the scale of projects ahead. While it is possible to reflag vessels in Japan, he said, that could create bottlenecks between sourcing ships and deploying vessels to offshore sites.Detjen said Coli is operating semi-liner project cargo services between Europe and Asia. Those services include the transportation of wind farm components, including power sets and blades, he added.Britain’s Carbon Trust, which has been working with the Japanese government on drawing up policy objectives for renewable energy, said Japan aims to generate up to 24 percent of its energy from renewable sources by 2030.Four areas in Akita, Chiba, and Nagasaki prefectures were identified by the Japanese government in July as the first of 11 sites for offshore wind farms.Mross said Japan’s continental shelf is quite narrow, with water depths of up to 200 meters (656 feet) a mere 20 to 50 km (12.5 to 25 miles) offshore. Consequently, offshore wind farms are likely to be fixed structures close to shore and on floating platforms in deep water.Contact Keith Wallis at <a href="mailto:keithwallis@hotmail.com">keithwallis@hotmail.com</a>.</div>

German companies link up to tackle Japan's offshore wind market

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‘Thriving’ US wind market strains heavy-haul truckers

German companies link up to tackle Japan's offshore wind market