About me

BIOGRAPHY
Walter L. Kuehnlein (Dr.-Ing.)

Dr. Walter L. Kuehnlein (PhD), Advisor & Consultant for Energy & Tech, University Lecturer, and Speaker
focusses on:
- fair and sustainable use of the oceans 
- smart and sustainable energy solutions
- blue and smart offshore and arctic concepts
- artificial intelligence and digitization in marine & energy technologies
Considering operational and design related aspects of offshore structures and systems in harsh environments, including ice.

Dr. Kuehnlein is Vice-Chairman of the Board of Directors of the German Association for Marine Technology (GMT), after he served for 15 years as Chairman. From 2005 till 2022, he was a member of the German Offshore Committee of DNV.  Dr. Kuehnlein is “advisor offshore” for the magazine Ship&Offshore, and lecturing: “Ice Engineering” and "Offshore Engineering" at the Hamburg University of Technology and "Ocean Technology" at the Berlin University of Technology. Furthermore, he was Symposium Coordinator: Arctic Technology of the OMAE Conferences and chairman of several Arctic conferences, including ATC 2016.

Since 1997, he is involved in the first drilling project in the North Caspian Sea, where he worked as Engineering and Project Manager in the US, Russia and Kazakhstan and today as advisor. 

From 2008 till 2019 he was Managing Director of the consultancy company sea2ice Ltd. & Co. KG and from 2001 till 2009 he was Director at the Hamburg Ship Model Basin (HSVA), responsible for Ice & Offshore.

Dr. Kuehnlein graduated in Civil & Ocean Engineering and received his Ph.D. in Ocean Engineering at the Berlin University of Technology, Germany.


My Vision
Ambitious and challenging offshore installations in harsh environments have to be designed and optimized totally from an operational point of view taking into consideration the full range of determining factors, such as environmental sensitivity, operational aspects, technical possibilities, construction and investment requirements, life-cycle and operational costs.

This sounds unpretentiously simple. So why is this still a remarkable vision or philosophy?
Currently, offshore projects are mostly designed from an engineering point of view, i.e. the most reasonable engineering solution is developed. But it is essential to develop a holistic concept at a very early stage of a project. This makes it possible to formulate new offshore concepts and dramatically cuts construction and life-cycle costs. Cost reductions of up to 50% are achievable particularly for projects in ice covered waters.
  • Philosophies for smart, sustainable, and clean generation, storage, and transportation of energy
  • Digitization and use of artificial intelligence in marine & energy technologies
  • Big data 
  • Design philosophies for offshore structures and systems in harsh environments (ice and open waters)
  • Design philosophies for arctic operational concepts for offshore installations
  • Review and consulting for new designs and concepts (working for operators or contractors) considering operational, engineering, constructional and environmental aspect
  • Offshore Wind: concepts for design, installation, operations & logistics
  • Tailor made solutions for new concepts, platforms, upgrades and modifications using operational, engineering, constructional and environmental optimized solutions
  • Analysis of ice conditions and consequences on structures and systems
  • Analysis of wave (sea) conditions and consequences on structures and systems
  • Supervision of numerical simulations and/or model tests in ice and open waters
  • Evacuation concepts, especially for ice covered waters
  • HAZOP concepts and studies
  • Ice, wave, offshore engineering, rig move and platform installation courses
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