It is reported that on July 30, 2020, OHT, a wholly-owned subsidiary of OHT, signed a contract with China Merchants Heavy Industries (Jiangsu) for up to four jack up offshore wind power installation vessels (including two alternative orders), and the orders will be delivered successively from 2023. Since the beginning of 2020, the total number of new and modified orders for ships and platforms related to offshore wind power sector has reached 34. If the smaller wind power operation and maintenance vessels are not considered, the orders related to offshore wind power sector account for one third of the total number of offshore engineering orders (52).

Rapid growth of offshore wind power orders

In recent years, the rapid growth of offshore wind power sector has become one of the few bright spots in the sluggish offshore market. According to Clarksons According to the data of research, there are 783 orders for new construction and modification of offshore wind power related ships and platforms in the world since 2005; according to the function division, there are 88 orders of jack up installation platform mainly used for offshore wind power construction (accounting for 11% of the total orders), 81 orders (10%) for other offshore construction and support devices, 59 (8%) for wind farm operation and maintenance and 59 (8%) for wind farm operation and maintenance 482 wind power operation and maintenance vessels (62%) and 73 offshore wind power related devices (including exploration devices, etc.) were also included. If we do not include wind power operation and maintenance vessels (because of their small size and large number), the number of new orders signed by offshore wind power sector since 2005 has accounted for more than 10% of the total offshore market orders.

The main reason for the rapid growth of offshore wind power orders is that under the background of energy structure transformation, low-carbon energy has received more and more attention; among them, offshore wind power has become one of the focuses of low-carbon energy development because of its rich resources, large developable area, wind farm far away from densely populated areas but close to the power load center. From 2009 to 19, the annual average growth rate of offshore wind power is 23%, and the estimated annual growth rate of output is 40%. As a result, a large number of offshore wind power construction and operation and maintenance needs.