OFFSHORE WIND Ӏ SECTOR REPORT
f capacity will be installed over the next decade under current policies. Wind, it finds, has the biggest growth potential of any renewable energy technology. Perhaps the defining characteristic of offshore wind farms, as opposed to onshore, is size. Winds at sea are greater; higher towers are much more efficient at capturing them. The first offshore turbine in UK
waters was Vindeby in 1991; it was 54m tall and generated 0.4Mw. General Electric’s Haliade X design is 260m tall with a 220m diameter rotor, and generates, from a single tower, 12MW. In offshore wind, size matters. Lifting ever-larger components
therefore is a vital part of wind farm installation, not only for the monopiles and turbine blades but also for the offshore transformer platforms that send the generated energy to shore. Early efforts were adapted from offshore oil expertise but specialist dedicated cranes and lifting vessels are now the order of the day. They are found both in ports that load components, on vessels that transport them, and on jacking vessels and rigs that erect them on site.
Among recent developments,
KenzFigee has signed a contract with Iv-Offshore & Energy to deliver an electric hydraulic ram luffing offshore crane for installation on the state-of-the-art offshore converter platform for the 100-turbine Sofia Offshore Wind Farm, which is to be sited on the Dogger Bank some 195 km off the northeast of England, making it one of the farthest from shore. The heavy-duty crane is especially suited for harsh North Sea conditions. A compact and
Artists impression of the Van Oord
Boreas installation vessel with Huisman leg-encircling crane
robust design is coupled with a limited number of moving parts for low maintenance – essential for an offshore crane. It has a 40-metre box boom which enables personnel handling and supply boat lifts, and platform lifts with safe working loads from 19 to 25 tonnes. In November 2021 maritime
service company Boskalis was awarded the contract for transportation and installation of the monopile foundations and substations for a farm with a value of approximately EUR 450 million. It will use its state-of-the-art Bokalift 1 and Bokalift 2 crane vessels and its heavy transport fleet; the contract ties up one year of crane vessel f
38 CRANES TODAY
palfinger fits out offshore wind farms
The world’s largest offshore wind farm, Hornsea One, lies of the coast of Yorkshire. Palfinger supplies 14 cranes to this project. Now Hornsea Two is set to overtake it: 165 monopiles and turbines will be installed in an area of 462 km2
in the North Sea to produce around 1.4 GW. Palfinger
is again involved. The heart of the installation is the offshore substation. Effectively a transformer substation on
the high seas, it collects the power generated by the wind turbines, stabilises and maximises the voltage, and transmits the electricity to shore with as little loss as possible. Halfway to shore, 120 kilometres away, is the reactive compensation station (RCS), which allows transmission over much longer cables using high-voltage alternating current. Palfinger will equip the offshore substation with one DKT400 telescopic crane and two PF17000 davit cranes. The reactive compensation station will have a PSM400 stiff-boom crane and two PF17000 davits. The cranes will be used to safely load and unload cargo between crew transfer vessels and the decks of the substations and will be useable even in the most adverse weather conditions - for which the North Sea is well-known.
copyright Ørsted
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