APPLICATION REPORT Ӏ RING CRANES
poWER BooST
The significant increase in the size of offshore wind turbines is creating demand for ring cranes. Sotiris Kanaris reports.
The global renewable energy sector has been growing fast over the past two decades, and the pandemic has not affected this trend. According to data released by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) the world added more than 260 GW of renewable energy capacity last year, exceeding expansion in 2019 by nearly 50%. Offshore wind is a renewable
energy source that has been gaining popularity. “The offshore wind industry has nearly tripled in size since 2016, with global installed capacity expected to grow to an estimated 109 GW by 2025 and rise further to 251 GW by 2030,” says Antoine Lefevre, sales manager at Mammoet. “This clearly shows the trends and future prospects in this market, where the average growth per year is reaching 22%.” The number of countries
where projects are taking place has also increased. Lefevre says China, the UK, Germany, the Netherlands and more recently Taiwan are leading in terms of installed capacity. “There is also a clear growth to be expected with strong ambitions announced from respective governments to increase capacities still further. Some new players such as France, USA, Japan and also South Korea, are also committed to become strong
Sarens deployed
its SGC-120 ring crane for a load- out and assembly operation at the Smulders Projects jacket yard in Newcastle, UK. Smudlers was responsible for the construction and installation of 28 wind farm jackets for the Beatrice Offshore Wind Farm. The SGC-120 lifted the 397t wind farm modules off the barge and set them 120m away from the load-out site. It also placed the upper jacket on top of the lower jacket, achieving a final height of about 70m.
players in this market.” Pieter Augustyns, deputy managing director of European projects at Sarens, also finds that the French and the US markets are showing strong interest in offshore wind. “In the US there is a lot of tendering, and the projects there will be huge. In the near future, I believe there will be a lot of activity in the Baltic region as well.” The global offshore wind
market has matured, Augustyns says, altering the requirements
in terms of logistics and the supply chain. Sarens serves this sector by providing solutions for turbine marshalling, foundation marshalling, as well as substation construction and load out. “15 years ago, every project had a long duration. Today the time frames are short and there is high pressure on pricing. You see the equipment and steel fabrication coming more and more from Asia, where the shipping prices are currently low. Engineering,
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