Large monohulls rather than self-propelled jack-ups could be the future of the offshore wind installation market, a recent order suggests
In 2012, A2SEA, the well known owner-operator of foundation and turbine installation vessels, was developing a new installation vessel with Teekay Corporation. A2SEA got as far as sending out specifications to shipyards to obtain pricing for the project, which was based on the conversion of an oil tanker rather than a jack-up vessel.
“We want to be sure not only that the vessel can install foundations but also which types of foundation it can install. Currently, we are looking at using the vessel to install not just jacket foundations but monopiles and others,” said A2SEA. Collaborating with Teekay, A2SEA planned to take advantage of the former’s long experience of offshore installation and its experience of operating large vessels controlled by dynamic positioning (DP). The idea was that the vessel could take four to seven jacket foundations (depending on size). The vessel would have to be self-propelled so A2SEA would not need to spend time preloading and jacking like some vessels.”
Ultimately, A2SEA didn’t press ahead with the plan, but the comment about not needing to spend time pre-loading and jacking was interesting because DEME, whose subsidiary GeoSea has become a well known provider of installation services in the offshore wind industry, has just placed a contract for the construction of a vessel intended to handle a new generation of larger offshore wind turbines and foundations. The vessel, Orion, will be built at Cosco in China for delivery in 2019. Although primarily intended as an installation vessel for the offshore wind industry, it will also be able to undertake decommissioning projects in the offshore oil and gas sector.
With a total installed power of 44,180 kW, Orion will be equipped with a high-capacity Liebherr crane with lifting capacity of 3,000 tonnes at more than 50 m. The crane will be able to lift loads to a height of more than 170 m. Deck space on the vessel has been maximised to provide exceptionally high transport and loading capacity. “The vessel can take the heaviest monopiles, jackets, wind turbine components and structures in a single shipment,” said DEME. “With this unmatched combination of high load and lifting capacity, Orion can transport and install the next generation of multimegawatt wind turbines.”
A DP3 vessel, Orion will be capable indeed, but perhaps the wider significance of the announcement was that, like the A2SEA vessel that didn’t quite get ordered, it isn’t a jack-up. Jack-ups have long been the installation vessel of choice in the offshore wind industry. Numerous examples have been built, several have entered service only recently and many millions of dollars have been spent developing and building them, but DEME’s new vessel acknowledges what A2SEA knew five years ago.
Although new jack-up designs have recently been proposed, it looks more and more likely that the installation market is transitioning from jack-ups to floating assets, and DEME’s newbuild is likely to be the first – unless of course Boskalis’s conversion of one of its F-class semi-submersible heavy-lifters beats it into service. The offshore mast-type crane from Huisman for that ship is due to be delivered by the end of 2017, which means the Boskalis vessel must be due to enter service some time the following year and might just beat Orion into service.
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