All clapped and ready for an offshore wind base

- We could receive the first customer tomorrow, says John W. Nilsen, general manager of FFS.

The government has announced that the first Norwegian offshore wind concessions will be awarded this year. Among other things, on Sørlige Nordsjø II, which is around 100 nautical miles from Farsund.

The ambition is an annual production of 30 GW on the Norwegian continental shelf by 2040. This corresponds to around 75 percent of the capacity in the Norwegian power system today.

WHEN THE POWER PRODUCTION in the North Sea gets underway, there will be a great need for land-based operation and maintenance bases.

- We have offered similar services to the seismic shipping companies for many years and have shown that we can deliver what is expected, says Nilsen. Incidentally, Farsund is the world's largest seismic harbour.

WHEN IT COMES TO offshore wind, there will be a need for indoor and outdoor storage capacity, office facilities, mechanical services and logistics resources, among other things.

- We have all this in place. When the support vessels come in once a week from the offshore wind farms, we can offer storage and maintenance of equipment, plus all the necessary infrastructure, says Nilsen.

Watch the video above with sound here.

HE EXPERIENCES great interest from consortia fighting for the concession on Sørlige North Sea II. And FFS has already entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), which is a form of letter of intent, with several of them.

- What makes us attractive is that we have very good quay facilities, warehouses, offices and extensive experience from running an operation and maintenance base. We are also energy neutral. While other players have to invest large amounts before they can offer anything, the customers come to us with a set table, says Nilsen, and adds:

- We also have all the certifications required to do this, as we are already a serious player in the market. Many can offer different solutions, but here in Farsund we have the best.

THE DIALOGUE AS The FFS manager has had with the various consortia indicate a storage requirement of around 1,000 square meters indoors and 2,000 square meters outdoors, as well as office space for around 20 people.

- This will not be a problem for us to be able to deliver. We can offer many different solutions and are very flexible, says Nilsen.