A&P Scoops Green Award for Offshore Renewables Support (UK)

Marine Designs Ltd, part of the A&P Group, has scooped a Green Energy award for an innovative pontoon system designed to support the offshore renewables industry.

The company, based in Falmouth in Cornwall, won the Best Business Innovation Award at the annual Regen SW Green Energy Awards in Bath for its patented Dockmaster pre-cast concrete pontoon system.

Regen SW is the renewable energy agency for South West England and its awards are regarded as the Oscars of the region’s renewable energy industry.

Marine Designs has pioneered its Dockmaster pontoon – which includes 80% recycled aggregate – to support operators installing offshore renewable energy technologies.

Drystan Jones, Managing Director of Marine Designs, said: “This award is the icing on the cake for us because 2010 has been a year of rapid growth thanks to our focus on meeting the needs of offshore wind developers.

“Our Dockmaster system provides an instant, low-maintenance pontoon solution for operators who require heavy-duty capacity and a stable platform either in port or on site offshore. It provides for the safe and efficient transfer of staff and can speed up turbine transfer times in an industry where time really is money.”

Awards judge Sarah Rhodes, head of land-based renewables at the Department of Energy and Climate Change, said: “The Dockmaster Pontoon is a novel, innovative device that has already shown it is commercially attractive – securing Marine Designs five contracts and having the scope to become the heavy-duty ‘pontoon of choice’ for ports internationally. It’s is an excellent solution for offshore windfarm developers, providing them with an ideal solution and helping them reduce maintenance costs.”

Marine Designs has undertaken four separate offshore wind farm pontoon projects in 2010 and taken on 10 new staff to meet demand. The company has recently been awarded the contract to install an operations and maintenance pontoon system for the London Array project at Ramsgate, which is creating what is expected to be the world’s largest offshore windfarm.

A&P Group uses its proven marine expertise and fabrication and engineering skills to provide a range of services to the offshore renewables sector.

This includes vessel conversions and construction, engineering, construction and assembly for offshore wind and wave and tidal devices, and port to vessel and vessel to offshore site access.

The group’s yards are well-placed to serve offshore windfarm projects and its Falmouth operation is the closest deepwater port to the Wave Hub marine energy infrastructure project.

In August A&P Falmouth carried out crucial modifications to the MV Nordica which was tasked with deploying the Wave Hub subsea cable off the north coast of Cornwall. This involved the design and fabrication of a new chute in just a few days to cater for a revised cable buoyancy system.

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Source: ap-group, December 08, 2010