Are there innovative vessel concepts and solutions available that are capable of servicing and maintaining new generation turbines?
The answer is yes! HeavyLift@Sea from Hamburg designed a jack-up vessel for supply and maintenance works of wind energy plants offshore.
For crane work a foldable offshore heavy-lift crane with a capacity of 400 – 600t is arranged at the portside aft capable of exchanging components at 160m above deck level.
HeavyLift@Sea is a group of highly qualified professionals with over 85 accumulated years of experience and knowledge in the international shipping industry.
Recent publications of wind turbine manufacturers show that the evolution of wind turbines is still ongoing:
- MHI Vestas V174-9,5 MW and 174m rotor diameter.
- GE Haliade-X 12 MW and 220m rotor diameter
- SG 14-222 DD and 222m rotor diameter.
It is important to remember that the development of these impressive power generators is accompanied by increasing sizes and weights of the structures as well as the turbine equipment.
For the installation of these large wind turbines there are also new vessels entering the market, e.g. Jan De Nul´s super-size class offshore installation vessels Voltaire and Les Alizés, or DEME Offshore´s newbuild Orion.
The question is: do they have any strategy for the future?