APPLICATION REPORT Ӏ RING CRANES


sign of the market changing as part of the energy transition,” he comments. “To really understand the value


proposition, you need to consider the alternative to lifting, which is to load the jackets out using SPMTs. Using a high-capacity ring crane instead you can avoid complex ballasting, and grillage is more simplistic as you don't need to leave free spaces on the deck to accommodate trailers. More critically, the operational flexibility - avoiding tidal restrictions that limit load-out windows - means load-outs can be swift, with a reduction in costly downtime for offshore installation vessels. All equipment in the value chain needs to be productive and our ring cranes enable this.”


FLOATING TURBINES “Assembly of offshore wind turbines in ports will also be required during floating wind projects - we currently see some prototype requirements with 10MW turbines,” says Lefevre. Floating Offshore Wind is a


new segment of the wind energy market, which involves wind turbines mounted on floating structures. The unit can be assembled onshore and the entire unit can be towed to the site offshore. The advantage of this technology is that turbines can be positioned in places that were previously not feasible, like water depths where current bottom-fixed technologies cannot be used. In the market there are different types of floating foundation technology: semi-submersible, tension leg platform, single point anchorage and others. “Floating offshore wind is


expected to unlock 80% of global offshore wind resources located in waters deeper than 50m,” says Sarens. “According to industry estimates, the technical potential


for floating wind power is around 7,000 GW for Europe, the US, and Japan combined.” The first operation floating wind


farm of scale is the Hywind project in Scotland, developed by Equinor and commissioned in October 2017. Augustyns says there are many projects under development, giving the examples of Kincardine floating offshore wind farm in Scotland, the Hywind Tampen in Norway and the Windfloat Atlantic in Portugal. With analysts forecasting a 50%


annual growth rate for floating offshore wind over the next five years, the heavy lift specialist is targeting this market to provide services, from bare crane rental to turnkey solutions. Mammoet is also eyeing this


market, with its Global Segment Lead for Offshore Wind, Francisco Rodrigues, saying that floating offshore wind is set to be the next big thing in renewable power. He says that although floating


offshore wind has the potential to become a huge global industry, there are still a number of hurdles that the industry must cross in order to become commercially attractive in terms of Levelized Cost of Electricity (LCOE). “Whereas the price for


delivering offshore wind energy in 2019 ranged between $48 and $60 per MWh of electricity, current auctions for floating wind are priced over twice that amount. This means more investment capital is needed to get projects off the ground, and of course higher electricity costs for the end user. One cause of this additional cost is the foundations used for floating offshore wind, which can be truly massive in scale. At their upper end, these giants can weigh tens of thousands of tonnes each; substantial fabrication projects of steel or concrete,” Rodrigues explains.


He adds that the pressure


is truly on for supply chains to mature rapidly, with an end goal of meeting the pace at which OEMs can produce turbines. “To achieve the goal of launching one floater per week, every element of the fabrication, logistics and construction chain must be fundamentally re-imagined. A daunting task – but luckily, one that has been tackled successfully before in many industry sectors.” At the moment the different


types and prototypes of floating offshore turbines can be assembled using crawler cranes such as CC8800 and LR 1350, says Augystyns of Sarens. “As these turbines get bigger, the company will constantly assess the different lifting solutions it can offer.” Lefevre also says that 1,350t


and 1,600t crawler cranes are suitable for this markets requirements, even for lifting the 10MW turbines protoypes, as only a small number of turbines will have to be entirely assembled, including nacelles and towers. “We see that large ring cranes


are suitable for WTG integrations around 12 MW and above. Instead of our PTC 200 like in Taiwan we can use our PTC 140. This is effectively the same crane but on a smaller base, which takes up a smaller footprint on the quayside.” “The larger PTC or the SK machines come into play as the power output of turbines increases further, but the assembly strategy also comes into play. For example, if you want to build the complete tower on land and then lift it as one piece onto the floater, you need the bigger machines for this.” If offshore wind turbines reach 20 MW in the near future, as Mammoet anticipates, then ring cranes may become an even more popular solution. With only a small number of them in the market, we might see more units being built.


CRANES TODAY 35


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61