Following the recent completion of the first offshore test, Heerema Marine Contractors has issued a video showing a novel method of assembling and installing XXL wind turbines onboard a floating, dynamically positioned (DP) vessel.
The method was tested in the Dutch North Sea onboard the largest semi-submersible crane vessel in the world, Sleipnir .
Heerema performed the demonstration project, known as Floating Offshore Installation of XXL Wind Turbines (FOX), in collaboration with DOT and the Delft University of Technology (TU Delft) to collect operational data and test installation methods and durations.
This demonstration project was supported by the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy and Eneco . The partners worked together with a wide range of subcontractors who have supported this test, including Heerema Engineering Solutions, F&B Group, Harco Heavy Lifting, Ampelmann, Sif, and CAPE Holland .
The novel Rotor Nacelle Assembly (RNA) method, developed by Heerema for the next generation of wind turbines, will for the first time be utilised on Parkwind’s Arcadis Ost 1 offshore wind farm in the German Baltic Sea.
Heerema will deploy the second-largest semi-submersible vessel in the world, Thialf , on the project.
As previously reported, Thialf will have to undergo certain modifications to the cranes in order to be able to sail under Denmark’s Storebaelt Bridge and enter the Baltic Sea.
Thialf is scheduled to start installing the 27 Vestas 9.5 MW wind turbines at Arcadis Ost I using the RNA method later this year.