Norway's Fred Olsen group has launched a new floating offshore wind and solar power engineering company that looks to the future as well as the past.
The venture is called Fred Olsen 1848, referring to the date of the parent company's founding.
But the next generation of the Norwegian shipowning family is in charge, in the shape of chief executive Sofie Olsen Jebsen, daughter of group CEO Anette Olsen and granddaughter of 92-year-old chairman Fred Olsen.
The company is being launched by the group's Oslo-listed holding company Bonheur.
Fred Olsen 1848 aims to develop existing green solutions, as well as come up with new ones, the company said.
Olsen Jebsen added: "In Fred Olsen 1848 we are determined to act now, and we aim to be the frontrunner in developing tomorrow's technologies within renewables and thereby becoming the preferred partner for businesses and organisations looking for the right solution."
The company has already unveiled three new projects, including a mobile port solution.
This is an offshore turbine installation unit that will allow jack-up ships to come alongside and moor in sheltered waters.
Turbines can then be united with floating foundation structures nearer to offshore wind sites.
The technique should speed up installation times.
Modular approach targeted
Modular floating foundations are also on the cards, as well as a solution for floating farm maintenance.
Olsen Jebsen has been vice president of strategy and business development at Fred Olsen Ocean for the last six years.
She told TradeWinds' sister newspaper Recharge: "In the various Fred Olsen companies we have built on our experience in renewables and have been working for a long time and on different innovations, [toward] solving market challenges, and especially in floating wind and solar, [which] are effectively new industries."
Fred Olsen Renewables operates 11 wind farms across Europe, while the Fred Olsen Windcarrier (FOW) division operates three wind turbine installation vessels, and is planning to order a fourth.
In June, the group signed a cooperation deal to support Japanese group Shimizu Corporation as it seeks to move into the offshore wind vessel market worldwide.
The deal encompasses Fred Olsen Ocean and subsidiaries FOW and Global Wind Service (GWS).
