General – Installation Vessel
Almost two years after the serious crane incident during crane load tests at the Liebherr construction yard in Rostock, DEME’s revolutionary offshore installation vessel Orion finally joins the fleet.
Mrs Amélie Michel, spouse of Mr Charles Michel, President of the European Council, is the godmother of the Orion.
Orion is equipped with a powerful, 5,000-tonne crane and is designed to handle the enormous turbines and foundations of the future. Liebherr supplied the ship’s crane, which features a 145-metre boom, is the largest ever built by the company.
With a total installed power of 44,180 kW and at 216.5 m long, the vessel has a large unobstructed deck and a deadweight that has been maximised so it can handle the heaviest components.
To enable the new installation vessel to handle the future generations of giant turbines and foundations, Orion is also equipped with an integrated Motion Compensated Pile Gripper (MCPG), which has been designed by DEME’s and Huisman’s expert engineers.
Coupled with the vessel’s DP3 capability, the MCPG allows the monopiles to remain vertical and stable during installation in the seabed, despite waves and motions of the vessel, and crucially, to be installed without the use of mooring anchors.
As already announced earlier by Ocean Energy Resources the Orion will shortly set sail for its first project in Germany, where XL foundations will be installed at the Arcadis Ost 1 offshore wind farm.
This will be followed by a decommissioning project in the UK.
The Orion will also be deployed for the installation of 176 foundations at the Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind Farm in the US, one of the largest offshore wind developments in the world.
