- Global leader in offshore wind signs muli-million pound deal with Scottish engineering innovator
- Hornsea Two offshore wind farm to become first in the world to design out boat landings and ladders from turbine foundations
Thursday 15 October 2020
Ørsted has signed a multi-million pound deal with Scottish engineering innovator Pict Offshore to deploy the ‘Get Up Safe’ (GUS) motion-compensated lifting system at the Hornsea Two offshore wind farm.
The deal with Pict Offshore means that Hornsea Two, which will become the world’s largest offshore wind farm on completion in 2022, will be the first ever offshore wind farm to deploy the GUS system and entirely design out the boat landing structures and ladders on the turbine’s foundations.
The addition of the revolutionary GUS system onto each of its 165 wind turbines means external ladders are no longer necessary, streamlining the foundation and reducing steelwork requirements – boosting both safety and the potential for construction and through-life cost reductions.
With the GUS system in place, technicians will be lifted and lowered directly between crew transfer vessel and the platform. This removes the need for technicians to step between the bow of the vessel and the ladder; a potentially dangerous operation that requires skilled co-ordination to be carried out safely during variable weather conditions, and eliminates a tiring climb, which can be up to 20 metres in length.
The GUS systems’ active heave compensation function tracks the motion of the vessel deck and automatically adjusts the line position to ensure that transferring technicians are always kept safe, even if the vessel is moving in variable wave and weather conditions.
The project is the result of a 3-year collaboration between Ørsted, the global leader in offshore wind, and Pict Offshore, during which time, Ørsted has taken a minority stake in the company. Pict is now manufacturing the GUS systems at its facility in Inverkeithing Fife and has doubled its headcount in the past months, adding production and manufacturing capability.
Duncan Clark, Head of UK Region at Ørsted, said: “Innovation continues to be a key driver behind the success of offshore wind and the UK is leading the way through engineering innovators like Pict Offshore. Hornsea Two is set to be another ground-breaking offshore wind project and showcases how far the industry has come in terms of size, scale, knowledge and ambition. At the heart of this ingenious engineering is safety and the GUS system is a pioneering example of how new technology to helping to ensure the wellbeing of our technicians and project teams.”
Pict’s Managing Director, Philip Taylor, said: “With this deployment, Ørsted is living up to its reputation as a visionary renewable energy player. The decision to deploy the GUS system at Hornsea Two is a bold and transformative move designed to both increase safety and reduce costs for the next generation of offshore wind farms.” He went on “With other offshore wind developers now taking a strong interest in the system, we hope that it’s a vision that will be shared by the industry”.
Head of low carbon transition at Scottish Enterprise, Andy McDonald, said: “It is great to see Pict Offshore reach the next stage of progression to produce hoists for the offshore wind industry and in turn provide a shift change solution for wind operators in terms of delivering safer and cost effective means of transferring personnel. The initial development of the Get Up Safe technology was supported by Scottish Enterprise and it is fantastic to learn this will be deployed on what will become the largest windfarm in the world at Hornsea Two and in turn highlight Scottish innovation on an international scale.”
How wind turbine technicians get to work:
From a Crew Transfer Vessel (CTV) with boat landing and ladder
Currently, a CTV will “push on” to the yellow transition piece of the turbine, before the technician steps from the bow of the vessel onto a ladder and climbs up the transition piece onto the turbine platform.
From a helicopter
As offshore wind farms are built further out to sea, helicopters are increasingly being used to transfer personnel to and from turbines. The benefits of using helicopters are that accessibility is not limited by wave height, however helicopters cannot be used for around 25% of troubleshooting tasks and can be much more expensive than using CTVs for the movement of personnel.
From a motion compensated gangway
Using state of the art technology, motion compensated gangways allow technicians to walk directly onto the base of a turbine, or offshore structure, from a vessel via a gangway that uses a laser system to compensate for any motion from the sea, enabling a steady course. Whilst these systems also avoid the need for boat landing and ladder, they can only be used on large Service Operation Vessels (SOVs), and therefore are not applicable on all sites.
How the new technology works:
The Get Up Safe (GUS) system is a technically unique solution that allows for access to a turbine with no boat landing or ladder from any-sized CTV.
With the motion compensated hoist, technicians will be lifted up directly from the boat, removing the need for ladders and boat landings altogether.
- The vessel pushes directly onto transition piece – this is revolutionary, as previously the vessels pushed onto boat landings
- The line is called down via remote control
- The technician clips themselves onto the GUS line (no extra hooks are needed) and is lifted up to the platform
- The system is fully motion compensated and uses inbuilt lasers to track the motion of a vessel’s deck, which means if there is a sudden rise or fall or the vessel, the technician is automatically moved out of harm’s way, in real time.
ABOUT Ørsted
The Ørsted vision is a world that runs entirely on green energy. Ørsted develops, constructs and operates offshore and onshore wind farms, solar farms, energy storage facilities, and bioenergy plants, and provides energy products to its customers. Globally, Ørsted is the market leader in offshore wind and it is constructing the world’s biggest offshore wind farm off the East Coast of the UK. Its UK offshore wind farms generate enough clean electricity for over four million UK homes. Ørsted ranks #1 in Corporate Knights’ 2020 index of the Global 100 most sustainable corporations in the world and is recognised on the CDP Climate Change A List as a global leader on climate action. Headquartered in Denmark, Ørsted employs 6,700 people, including over 1000 in the UK. Ørsted’s shares are listed on Nasdaq Copenhagen (Orsted). In 2019, the group’s revenue was DKK 67.8 billion (EUR 9.1 billion). Visit orsted.co.uk or follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram and Twitter.
ABOUT Pict Offshore
Pict Offshore is a new joint venture between the founders of Limpet Technology, a Scottish height safety pioneer, and Ørsted, the world’s largest developer of offshore wind energy. Headquartered in Fife in Scotland, Pict Offshore will focus on the delivery of its ‘Get up Safe’ system, an innovative, motion compensated hoist technology, set to transform the way technicians access offshore wind turbines. The launch of Pict Offshore follows a two and a half year research and development programme and extensive trials of the system on Ørsted sites. For more information visit: www.pictoffshore.com
