Our industry is ever changing and the increase in size, height, length and weight of the new foundations and turbines have created a need for new lifting equipment able to handle these loads. PES is pleased to bring you an innovative solution from GustoMSC, who will be able to assure deliveries and installations to the new mega sites.
Introduction
Offshore wind turbines are predominantly installed in five steps: Tower in one single lift, nacelle in a single lift and then the three blades separately. Most modern, purpose built wind turbine installation vessels are capable of lifting the current 6-8 MW turbines, reaching the necessary height and have sufficient variable load and deck space to carry an economically efficient number of turbines for each round trip.
However, over the last few years, the turbine installation market for the 6-8 MW range has been characterised by low installation volumes and vessel overcapacity.
Adding the introduction of the new generation turbines with the challenge of installing higher and heavier wind turbine components, these are challenging times for installation contractors. GustoMSC has been cooperating closely with the offshore wind installation contractors and has provided integrated and efficient installation technology to face these challenges.
Both floating and Jack-up technologies are being developed, combining practical innovative ideas and our proven technology to enable safe and efficient installation. This article demonstrates how the Jack-up solution is able to solve the installation bottleneck of near future wind turbines.
