OEDigital interview Barry Parsons, Group Chief Commercial Officer

In an interview in the May 2023 issue of Offshore Engineer, Barry Parsons, Group Chief Commercial Officer, shares his views on the future of offshore wind and, especially, the challenges of floating wind. 

“It will probably be 2026, maybe even 2027, before you start to see a real high inflexion in the volume of the installation activity for floating wind but that technology development conversation is already moving at pace,” he says. As a matter of fact, Acteon is using the sector-agnostic technologies it has been perfecting for decades of supporting the marine infrastructure, and transferring technologies and techniques that are well established in other applications to tailor them to the offshore wind farm. 

As such, he continues, floating wind is effectively helping to foster some new technology development, namely, to find faster, more reliable ways to obtain the geotechnical samples from the seafloor, to adapt anchors to more challenging soil conditions, and to reduce the overall carbon impact of the offshore installation.   

Barry also explains how early engagement from developers and service integration will allow the industry to face the challenges of this new sector, in particular supply chain complexity and variability. “Quayside facilities are going to be at a premium, managing enormous volumes of chain, anchors, hardware, and hulls. So that complex logistics and supply chain challenge is going to be significant. We have got a fairly substantial track record over the decades of managing reasonably complex logistics and supply chain ourselves. So, I think that is going to matter and help.” Barry also talks about how local shore bases and fabrication facilities close to where the project is being installed will generate a lot of value for the community and will definitely help reduce costs. 

“Floating wind is big, it’s global, and it’s happening right now.” 

Watch the full interview here. Or read the full publication here.