With the establishment of a technical training academy as well as a massive four year equipment and innovation investment programme, dredging and marine contractor Van Oord clearly see a big future for offshore wind development. Director of Offshore Wind Projects, Johan van Wijland, speaks to PES about their plans for the future.
PES: Welcome to PES. Can you begin by telling us a little about your company and explaining how it serves the wind sector?
Johan van Wijland: Van Oord is an international dredging and marine contractor with two offshore business units; one serving the oil & gas industry and one dedicated for Offshore Wind projects. Van Oord has a turnover of 1.7 billion euros annually and more than 4600 employees.
The company works worldwide, however the Offshore Wind business unit focuses on projects in Europe. We serve the wind sector as EPC (Engineering, Procurement and Construction) contractor and as dedicated subcontractor for cabling (inter-array cables), scour protection and installation activities for foundations and turbines.
PES: How much of your business is devoted to wind, and is it a sector that you hope to foster further growth in?
JW: Currently, 10 per cent of Van Oord’s activities are dedicated to wind, though we expect growth of up to 20 per cent for this area in the foreseeable future.
PES: We note that you’ve been nominated for the best technical traineeship of 2011
– is this an area that the company values and nurtures?
