RENEWABLES Ӏ SECTOR REPORT
Pitschmann, global application manager at Liebherr-MCCtec Rostock. The HLC series, and the
expansion of the heavy-duty crane range, are firmly anchored in Liebherr's strategy not least because of the energy transition and the increase in numbers and
size of offshore wind turbines this is bringing. For the construction of these modern wind turbines the lifting height of the HLC 295000 is a decisive factor. There is also, as a by product of increased renewables, a trend towards decommissioning disused offshore oil and gas platforms. This involves
dismantling large and heavy parts on the open sea – which again is an important task for which Liebherr's HLC series is well suited thanks to its huge lifting capacities. In dismantling the old and building up the new energy, Liebherr point out that the HLC series is involved ‘at both ends’ of the transition.
Tugdock develops new lifting technology for offshore wind
The speed of offshore seabed wind installations has revealed a forthcoming problem: a lack of places to put them. Most of the suitable sites – of shallow seas, close to shore – have wind farms on them already or have been earmarked for them; yet the need for more capacity remains. The solution is fl oating farms which,
anchored by cables to the seabed, can be placed in deeper waters further from shore. As an added advantage winds are stronger and more consistent in these locations. Floating wind farms, however, present other logistical problems: the towers, and in particular the fl oats that support them, are immense – so large, in fact, that most harbours cannot handle them. In February a UK startup company by the name of Tugdock, located in Cornwall, announced a partnership with Sarens to offer a novel solution. Lucas Lowe-Houghton, director of business development for Tugdock, explains: “The fl oating offshore wind sector is expected to continue to grow rapidly. However, very few of the world’s ports have suffi cient water depth and assembly quay space to build the huge turbine fl oaters required, and conventional dry docks are not wide enough as they were originally designed for ships.” Tugdock’s patented marine buoyancy bag technology solves this issue. “It has been designed to help ports play a bigger role in fl oating offshore wind turbine assembly. It allows fl oating dry docks to be delivered by road in modular form and assembled at the port to dimensions far wider than most of the world’s existing dry docks. The fl oating platform is then towed to deeper water for launching of the turbines. Our submersible fl oating dry docks can operate with as little as fi ve metres draft, enabling more effi cient wind turbine fl oater construction.” This technology can greatly increase the capacity of docks such as Pembroke Port, in
Wales; a £60 million project is underway to adapt infrastructure there to accommodate the growing number of renewables developers who are seeking to base themselves there due to its proximity to the Celtic Sea, which has some of the best wind resources in Europe. Simulations are under way of the
processes of manoeuvring large fl oating wind turbines into, and out from, Pembroke Port using the Tugdock technology. These will give a detailed understanding of the sequence of events that need to take place to successfully complete these phases of turbine recovery and deployment and help steer future planning for the port. “More than 8% of the total cost of a
fl oating offshore wind farm is accounted for
by assembly and installation” says Lucas. “So any innovation that allows this process to be carried out more effi ciently and quickly will have a big impact on profi tability for developers.” Carl Sarens, director of global operations, technical solutions and engineering at Sarens, said: “Through this partnership with Tugdock we are able to streamline the solution we offer to developers. By signifi cantly reducing time and costs our alliance will deliver a step change for wind turbine construction. In addition, Tugdock’s fl exibility and reusability is useful to global developers as the units can be reused from one port or project to another regardless of changes in turbine size or foundation weight.”
22 CRANES TODAY
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