ENERGY Ӏ OFFSHORE WIND POWER
LARGEST OFFSHORE WIND TURBINE INSTALLATION VESSEL NEARS COMPLETION
The Boreas is part of Van Oord’s preparation for the increase in scale in the offshore wind industry. Upon completion it will be the largest vessel of its kind: it is 175 metres long. Huismann has supplied the vessel’s main, leg-encircling, crane, and this too will be the largest of its kind that Huisman has developed to date, in terms of lifting capacity, and of boom length, and of installed power. Its 155-metre- high boom is able to lift over 3,200 tonnes. The system is fully electrically driven, giving high positioning accuracy; the new slew bearing system, developed in-house, increases this. The energy grid provides reduced maintenance and lessens the energy consumption of the crane significantly. The boom's unique design makes it stiff and lighter in weight,
leading to reduced motion at the crane tip, and a small tail swing optimises free deck space. The vessel has also an auxiliary hoist, of 500t capacity, and two
auxiliary telescopic cranes which are supplied by MacGregor. One is a 27.5t 45m machine the other 17.5t with a 42m reach. They will be used to transport the cargo and for load handling during the installation of wind turbines in the offshore environment and are equipped with an anti-collision system. Four legs, each of 126 metres, allow the vessel to be jacked up and work in waters up to 70 metres deep. It will therefore be able to install the next generation of 20 MW offshore wind turbines at sea. The Boreas is itself part of the energy transition, being the first of its kind to be able to run on the future fuel methanol, which will
the transition from their
fabrication site on land, to their destination offshore. This becomes increasingly complex: just as installation vessels are having to become larger, so too do port and harbour installations. Sarens, for example, is using
very large crawler cranes for handling offshore components. It currently has three Liebherr LR12500-1.0 crawlers; it bought the first one last year, the other two this year. Yannick Sel, Sarens’ group
commercial director of projects, explains why: “We see a significant need for this type of crane and the type of job it can perform. This is why we decided to increase our arsenal. We are particularly focusing on jobs in renewables for the new 2500T crane. Handling offshore wind turbines at ports is becoming an important business segment as the weights of components continues to rise.
32 CRANES TODAY
reduce the ship’s carbon footprint by more than 78 percent. A battery pack of about 6,000 kWh can take peak loads and
regenerate energy to reduce the fuel consumption and corresponding emissions even further.
“One of the new cranes is
in Norway serving a project for Siemens Gamesa, exchanging components for Hywind Tampen FLOAT offshore project. The other is in Eemshaven, the Netherlands, loading and uploading transition pieces and monopiles.” Consider also Japanese crane
manufacturer Tadano, whose lifting gear has hitherto been exclusively land-based. Its largest crawler cranes, the
CC 88.1600-1/ CC 8800-1, with a maximum lifting load of 1,600t, and the CC 88.3200-1 twin/ CC 8800-1 twin, with 3,200t capacity, have attracted interest for offshore wind base ports, of which there are currently four in Japan, for loading wind farm components on to installation vessels. But Tadano has gone further: it announced in July this year a collaboration with Danish wind power manufacturer Vestas to develop and sell wind turbine
nacelle cranes globally – beginning with versions for Vestas’ new V236 offshore wind turbines. Nacelle cranes are permanently housed at the top of the tower in the nacelle itself; they are used to raise parts and equipment from ground (or sea) level for lifetime maintenance and servicing of the generator. They are equally necessary for
onshore and offshore farms but the offshore versions need higher lift heights (rope lengths) and greater weather protection.
Although details of the new
cranes are not yet available, Tadano revealed that they will be extremely durable in order to withstand the extreme conditions, the strong winds and high salinity, of offshore use.
INNOVATIVE SOLUTIONS Ports and harbours that cater for offshore wind are sometimes remote; and do not always have
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