Jack-up vessel INNOVATION sets new standards in the offshore market

- - -  Christening of wind market'¦s most powerful jack-up vessel with partner DEME
- - -  Faster and cheaper installation of wind turbines at sea
- - -  Ship already chartered long-term ahead of completion
- - -  HOCHTIEF one of biggest players in offshore market

03.09.2012 + + + HGO InfraSea Solutions, a joint venture between HOCHTIEF and GeoSea's subsidiary of the Belgian DEME Group today officially commissioned the wind market's most powerful jack-up vessel, the INNOVATION. In the company of around 600 guests from the European offshore market, Geertrui Van Rompuy-Windels, wife of the President of the European Council, christened the ship in Bremerhaven.

The INNOVATION was developed for the construction and servicing of offshore wind farms and oil and gas plants at sea. Thanks to its high deck cargo and the powerful 1,500-ton crane, the ship is ideal for the safe and fast assembly of the latest-generation foundations and wind turbines at great water depths. Its unique features ensured that it was already chartered to AREVA for several years long before completion. HOCHTIEF is using the jack-up vessel first to build the North Sea wind farm Global Tech I.

Ullrich Reinke, a member of the Executive Board of HOCHTIEF Solutions AG says: "By developing the INNOVATION, HOCHTIEF and GeoSea are making a crucial contribution to reducing the cost of building offshore wind power plants. Even under harsh conditions, the ship can be used 300 days a year. This gives investors a high level of planning reliability.¨
The construction of the ship was a European project. It was commissioned at the behest of the German-Belgian joint venture HGO InfraSea Solutions and, after two years of planning, was built in only two years at the Crist shipyard in Poland. 70 percent of the purchasing volume comes from German production. This includes the powerful Liebherr crane and the jack-up system from Siemens.

The Crist shipyard is currently fulfilling a follow-up order from HOCHTIEF: The jack-up vessel VIDAR will be put into service next year. The HOCHTIEF fleet also includes two jack-up platforms (ODIN and THOR) and three heavy-load pon-toons that can be used at sea. There is huge market demand for all of this equipment and it is all working to capacity.

HOCHTIEF is now one of the biggest players in the offshore wind market, and not only through chartering its large-scale equipment. The company builds and installs offshore components or entire wind farms. Its major projects include the wind farms Global Tech I in the North Sea and EnBW Baltic 2 in the Baltic with a total nominal output of 700 megawatts. In addition, HOCHTIEF is itself currently developing five North Sea wind farms in conjunction with an investment partner: 425 wind turbines are planned with total output of well in excess of two giga-watts. Once completed, the plants will secure more than one-quarter of the German Federal Government's expansion target for offshore wind up to 2020.

Overall, the development of the energy infrastructure is HOCHTIEF's most im-portant growth market. The Group intends to increase its sales in this area in the coming five years by 40 percent. HOCHTIEF is involved not only in electricity generation but also in expanding the landside grid, and in the storage of energy, for example, at pumped storage power plants.

Using its great technical expertise, the company is constantly developing new solutions with which the energy turnaround can be implemented faster and better. Its most important innovations include Offshore Foundation Drilling, which was developed in conjunction with Herrenknecht. This low-noise drilling method causes less disturbance to marine fauna and simultaneously reduces the invest-ment costs involved in the installation of offshore wind power plants. Another new area of development is the construction of heavy-load foundations which HOCHTIEF is providing with partners, under the name of Gravitas. The manufacture of prototypes is currently in planning.

"With our investments and developments, we are taking responsibility for the conversion of the energy sector. Politicians must now provide reliable framework conditions and financial security", says the HOCHTIEF CEO, Dr. Frank Stieler.

HOCHTIEF is one of the leading international providers of construction-related services. With more than 80,000 employees and a sales volume of EUR 23.28 billion in FY 2011, the company is represented in all the worlds major markets. The Group's service offering in the fields of development, construction and operation covers the entire life cycle of infrastructure projects, real estate and facilities. In this connection, HOCHTIEF focuses on four strategic growth areas: creating sus-tainable energy infrastructure, shaping major cities, building state-of-the-art transportation infra-structure, and contract mining business. With its subsidiary Leighton (HOCHTIEF share around 54 percent), the Group is market leader in Australia. In the USA, the biggest construction market in the world, HOCHTIEF is the No. 1 general builder via its subsidiary Turner and, with Group company Flatiron, ranks among the most important players in the field of transportation infrastructure con-struction. Because of its engagement for sustainability, HOCHTIEF has been listed in the Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes since 2006. Further information: www.hochtief.com 

HOCHTIEF Solutions consolidates the core business of the HOCHTIEF Group in Europe and in selected regions worldwide. The company plans, develops, builds, operates and manages real estate and infrastructure facilities. HOCHTIEF Solutions is the management company of the Group's Europe division which employed around 15,000 people around the globe in fiscal 2011. In many regions and segments, the company is a market and innovation leader. Further information is available at www.hochtief-solutions.com and www.hochtief.com

DEME The Belgian dredging, environmental and marine engineering group DEME has won a prominent position on the world market in a number of highly specialized and complex hydraulic disciplines. The company fosters a strong innovative approach and has nearly 150 years of experience in its core dredging and land reclamation activities and hydraulic engineering. The DEME Group diversified from dredging operations and land reclamation to marine engineering projects at sea, services to oil and gas companies, installation of offshore wind farms, environmental activities such as soil remediation, sludge recycling and revalidation of brownfields and wreck clearance. The Group has one of the most modern, high-tech and versatile fleets for dredging and marine engineering, with ships and rigs in every size and for every activity sector. DEME employs more than 4,200 people. The Belgian Group is implementing more than 70 projects simultaneously in over 50 countries around the world. In 2011 the DEME Group realised a turnover of EUR 1.766 billion. Its current investment programme in high-tech equipment enables DEME to meet future challenges with an ultra-efficient and modern fleet. Further information: www.deme.be 

GeoSea is a fast growing company specialising in complex offshore marine construction projects. The company is part of the Belgian DEME group, one of the worldˇ¦s leading companies in the field of dredging, marine engineering and environmental operations. GeoSea has participated in the construction of large-scale offshore wind farms including the Alpha Ventus project, the EnBW Baltic 2 wind farm, the Trianel West Borkum II wind farm in German waters, the Walney wind farms and at the Ormonde farm in the Irish Sea and the C-Power wind farm off the Belgian Coast. GeoSeaˇ¦s jack-up platforms include Neptune, Goliath, Vagant, Buzzard, Zeebouwer, Halewijn, Tijl II, and Kobe. They are assigned to projects around the globe, including on the North Sea, the Middle East and Australia. GeoSea business also covers more traditional activities such as soil investigation, drilling of large diameter mono piles and high-tech directional drilling. GeoSeo relies on its ability to provide innovative techniques and high operational reliability through high-tech equipment. Further information: www.geosea.be 

Soruce: Hochtief Solutions AG
Stefan Hannen

+  +  Media Links +  +

For more information, media details or sample copies please contact
wilhelms@pennwell.com
www.sicking.de

Please send news releases to Wilhelm Sicking - sicking-media@email.de