Fred Olsen 1848 and Huisman are developing an innovative floating maintenance solution to solve the challenge of major component exchange on a floating wind turbine
The solution enables the exchange of turbine components and removes the need for dynamic lifts when undertaking component exchange offshore. This reduces costs and risk.
Fred Olsen 1848 said the solution has already attracted the interest of several large floating offshore wind developers. The next milestone in its development is to conclude a detailed FEED study.
Among the advantages of the system are that component exchange can be carried out without the need to disconnect the foundation and tow it to port. The concept is design agnostic and compatible with most semi-submersible floating structures.
No modifications are needed on the tower or wind turbine generator and only minimal modifications are required to the floating foundation. Infield deployment of the crane can be performed by a regular offshore support vessel.
Huisman’s solution includes an expandable main boom and a foldable knuckle boom integrated in a compact self-supporting setup that is easy to transport and deploy. A quick connection system allows the crane to be deployed in multiple lightweight modules.
An all-electric drive system results in high positioning accuracy, reduced energy use, reduced maintenance and high reliability. A dedicated energy storage system allows the crane to use the turbine’s auxiliary circuits.
Riviera Maritime Media has a comprehensive conference programme for the rest of 2022 and will provide free technical and operational webinars in 2023.
