Lifting, drilling and subsea specialist Huisman has developed a lightweight type crane for the maintenance of offshore wind turbines: the Foldable Offshore Crane.
The ideal maintenance jack-up has a small deck, is cost-effective and quick to mobilize, has a limited lifting capacity (up to 500-600mt) and a lifting height of over 160m, Huisman said.
The Huisman Foldable Offshore Crane is described as well suited for these types of jack-ups as it is capable of exchanging turbine components to around 160m above deck level from a smaller vessel.
The boom of the crane is foldable which results in a very small footprint when in storage position, Huisman said. In addition, the folding mechanism leads to a much lighter crane compared to conventional cranes, which positively influences integration, and simplifies inspection and maintenance as the lifting hooks are safely stored inboard.
By slightly tilting the knuckle, extra boom clearance is created. This is said to simplify lifting of large loads and reduces the required boom length to reach above the middle of a nacelle.
Furthermore, the crane can be retrofitted on existing jack-ups which can be useful for operators in need of more hook height in answer to the growing demands of the offshore wind industry, according to Huisman.
David Roodenburg , Huisman’s Director Strategy and Business Development said: “In addition to our innovative solutions for the installation of increasingly large wind turbines, we see many opportunities to improve efficiency, and thus lowering costs, for maintenance. With this new crane type we believe to have designed a cost-effective means to perform maintenance on existing and future wind turbines.”