Houlder accesses Spirit of Innovation Award
Houlder MD Rupert Hare with the Spirit of Innovation Award, presented at the Seawork 2011 Awards Dinner.
UK based engineering consultancy Houlder is celebrating its Turbine Access System (TAS) winning both the Marine Renewable Energy Supply Chain category and the overall Spirit of Innovation Award at Seawork.
The lightweight motion compensated gangway, developed with BMT Nigel Gee, provides safe and reliable access from workboats in the offshore wind industry.
The three axis compensation technology is already strongly supported by industry, including developers and vessel operators, in recognition of both the significant safety improvement and increased maintenance window it provides from workboats in rougher weather. It is already featured in several vessel designs. Increasing the significant wave height window for personnel transfer from 1.5m to 2.0m, for example, allows quick resets and minor turbine repairs to be undertaken on a higher proportion of North Sea work days.
This uplift has been shown to improve turbine availability from 80% to 90% which for a 5MW turbine, as expected to be deployed for much of UK Round 3 developments, equates to extra annual revenue of £245,000 per turbine. Taking the proposed 9GW Dogger Bank field as the most onerous example, this equates to a possible additional revenue of £441m a year.
Houlder’s managing director Rupert Hare said, “Winning the Seawork Innovations Showcase repays in an instant all the efforts of the Houlder team in the development of our Turbine Access System.”
A demonstrator model is currently being fabricated and the company expects the first commercial units to be delivered before the end of 2011.
Other category winners from the Seawork Innovation Showcase include a third yearly win in a row for the 2009 Spirit of Innovation Award winner, KPM Marine. KPM’s EcoMast is a hollow radar mast with an integrated vertical turbine harvesting wind energy created by the forward movement of the vessel. It won the Renewable Energy Onboard Generation and Conservation category and was runner-up for the Spirit of Innovation Award.
Damen Shipyards won the Vessel Design and Construction category for its High Speed Support Vessel 2610, a wind farm support catamaran which offers outstanding seakeeping due to its twin axe bow hull design. The spectacular first of class vessel for Marineco was a highlight on the Seawork 2011 pontoon.
The Marine Civil Engineering and Construction category was won by Wave Craft UK with its Waveblade PLUS, a cordless submersible power tool which removes bio-fouling from vessel hulls and marine structures using vibration.
UNIMEC Srl took the Marine Equipment, Electronics and Materials category with Sigmadrive, a new type CV joint which resists propeller thrust without bearings to reduce vibrations and movements transmitted by engines.
Taking top honours in the Diving and Underwater Technology category was GRP Laminates, whose MSV Explorer – SPO2 Rig on the Seawork pontoon combined the former, a self propelled sub-surface viewing pod, with the purpose designed 13m SPO2 launch and recovery catamaran.
Completing the list of winners announced at the Seawork Awards Dinner was EchoPilot Marine Electronics, which took Safety and Training category honours with its 2D Forward Looking Sonar. This new product brings Spirit of Innovation Award 2010 winning technology to a wider range of budget conscious vessel operators.
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