Pacific Orca Decked Out for Offshore Nacelle Repairs

Swire Blue Ocean’s jack-up Pacific Orca has been equipped with a mobile workshop to facilitate onboard maintenance of nacelles during the maintenance and service agreement with Siemens Gamesa.

This new workshop will enable Siemens Gamesa’s Heavy Lift team to repair various types of nacelles directly at the offshore locations. This option is expected to make the repair process much faster, as it prevents the need for trips between the offshore sites and the port for repair of nacelles onshore. It is also expected to reduce fuel consumption and, therefore, improve the sustainability of the operations.

The workshop is 10 metres high, 13 metres wide, 30 metres long, and weighs 58 tonnes. It has a retractable roof which opens to allow for placement of the nacelle inside for repairs. The workshop was originally designed by OSK for Siemens Gamesa, and SBO’s engineers have ensured that it is now properly secured to the vessel and will remain stable on Pacific Orca’s deck, especially during rough weather conditions.

“We are glad that we can safely accommodate the workshop on Pacific Orca as it will improve the efficiency of operations. Beyond that, it increases the flexibility of Pacific Orca as a maintenance and service tool. Now, SGRE can repair nacelles directly on site,” said Ulf Gjendal, Head of Projects, SBO.

“Luckily, we managed to find a good timing for the installation and cooperated very efficiently with SGRE to ensure a smooth mobilisation.”

Pacific Orca remains on a maintenance and service agreement with Siemens Gamesa until February 2021, servicing wind farms located in the North, Baltic and Irish Seas.

“In SGRE we are always in pursuit to optimize time when the vessel is at the wind farm, to minimize down time for the turbine and loss of revenue for our customers. Together with SBO we managed to take advantage of a weather standby period and install the workshop – one team spirit and job well done,” said Jacob Ib, Senior Marine Operations Manager at Siemens Gamesa.