Two leading Scottish marine engineering firms, Ocean Kinetics and Green Marine, have successfully completed the decommissioning of OpenHydro's pioneering tidal energy platform at the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) in Orkney.
The decommissioning project, contracted by EMEC, involved a range of marine services. A joint venture partnership was formed in April to deliver the contract, combining Ocean Kinetics' divers, riggers, welders and ROV services, and Green Marine's offshore management, vessel, moorings and cable experience, with shared responsibility for operational engineering, cutting and heavy-lift operations.
Key work included dismantling the platform's steel superstructure - including two 18-tonne steel piles, drilled and grouted into the seabed - as well as cable disconnection and termination. Pile foundations were cut to the seabed using reversed Diamond Wire Cutters, returning the seabed as close as reasonably practicable to its original condition.
Green Marine's operations manager Terry Norquay said: "We are very pleased to have successfully completed this complex and wide-ranging project. Significant planning was required to complete the recent phase involving the removal of the two 18-tonne steel piles, with our vessel, the Green Isle, positioned in a four-point mooring configuration to remain stationary and allow divers to safely enter the water. This project has expanded Green Marine's broad portfolio of work and demonstrates the turnkey offshore decommissioning solutions we can deliver in partnership with our trusted colleagues."
Ocean Kinetics marine projects manager, Roger Goudie, said: "Working closely with Green Marine, we can deliver a full range of EPCI (engineering, procurement, construction and installation) contracts. There are few operators in the UK who can match our combined experience, reliability and cost efficiency."
Ocean Kinetics and Green Marine share vast experience in the marine sector, from work on subsea servers, port gates, and aquaculture equipment, to retrieving sunken barges (reaching 1000 tonnes in weight) and decommissioning projects including the salvage and removal of the 4000-tonne decommissioned oil rig Buchan Alpha.
Neil Kermode, EMEC Managing Director, said: "The OpenHydro platform stood at our Fall of Warness test site for 18 years, one of the longest tidal energy installations in the world to date. It's great to see local Orkney and Shetland companies fulfil the decommissioning requirements, a testament to the world-leading supply chain capabilities that have built up here due to marine energy testing and demonstration activities. Now that decommissioning has been completed, we can complete a full lifecycle analysis with valuable insights around marine operations, structural integrity of long-term deployments as well as the impact of biofouling and corrosion. These lessons can help guide the tidal energy industry's continued evolution as we ready our test sites for future clients and building out to tidal energy arrays."
OpenHydro was the first developer to use EMEC's tidal test site at the Fall of Warness and became the first tidal turbine to be grid-connected in Scotland and the first to successfully generate electricity to the national grid in the UK
Ocean Kinetics - Ocean Kinetics was established in 1992 to provide marine engineering solutions to clients in Shetland. The company specialises in marine works, metal works and fabrication, welding, pipework, repair and corrosion prevention, project management and design in the oil and gas, renewables, fishing and aquaculture, marine, decommissioning and power and utilities sectors. Headquartered in custom-built, state-of-the-art premises in Lerwick Shetland, and with bases at the Sullom Voe Oil Terminal in Shetland, Orkney, and Aberdeen, Ocean Kinetics is strategically positioned to service clients across the UK and Overseas. The company owns and operates a number of specialist marine salvage vessels and has the construction equipment to provide cost-effective solutions for clients operating in a range of sectors.
Green Marine (UK) Ltd - Green Marine (UK) Ltd was founded in 2012 in the Orkney Islands, Scotland, and operates throughout Europe. Its founders draw on a long history of working in the marine sector, having previously operated a fleet of fishing vessels. The company was established with over 150 years of real sea time experience in its core team and provides many services to the offshore renewables industry. As this sector has grown, Green Marine has procured additional vessels and built a comprehensive fleet of workboats, crew transfer vessels, heavy lift and transportation barges. Its vessels carry out crew transfers, AIM and associated subsea surveys, offshore site surveys, cable installation, recovery and burial, mooring installation and recovery, buoyage installation/maintenance, towage and salvage. As the fleet expanded and experience grew, Green Marine extended its services into engineering. The company now has a highly-qualified engineering team consisting of naval architects, project engineers, structural engineers and draughtsmen.
EMEC - Established in 2003, EMEC is the world's leading centre for demonstrating wave and tidal energy converters in the sea. As a plug-and-play facility EMEC helps reduce the time, cost and risk of testing ocean energy and associated low carbon technologies. More marine energy devices have been tested at EMEC than any other site in the world. EMEC was set up to kick start a marine energy sector in the UK and boost economic development in the Highlands and Islands. The unprecedented activity that has taken place in Orkney due to the presence of EMEC has been a catalyst for economic development, creating jobs and a world-leading supply chain now exporting skills and knowledge around the globe. An economic impact assessment calculated EMEC added £370 million GVA to the UK economy between 2003 and 2023.
January 7, 2025
