Hovercraft makes offshore wind farm viable
Meridian Marine’s Tiger 12 hovercraft takes to land at speed, something no other type of workboat can do.
A hovercraft is making it possible for works to proceed on an offshore wind farm project in the Greater Wash off the UK’s east coast.
Construction began earlier this year for the Lincs wind farm, one of five Centrica offshore projects in the region. Situated 8km off the coast of Skegness next to the Lynn and Inner Dowsing wind farms, it will comprise 75 3.6MW turbines giving a capacity of 270MW.
Lincs has a consented capacity of 250MW. The additional 20MW (six turbines) will be constructed in the footprint of the Lynn and Inner Dowsing wind farm development but connected to Lincs transmission.
Transmission cables must be placed via directional drilling across tidal marshlands which are a Site of Special Scientific Interest and a critical feeding ground for many nesting birds. Walking across these areas destroys the birds’ food, which lives immediately below the surface. As a result, Natural England does not allow walkers or wheeled vehicles across the marsh, giving permission only for a hovercraft to carry engineers and small plant to drilling barges anchored offshore in an area which is dry for all but an hour a day.
Making the cable project possible is the only MCA licensed hovercraft in the country, an AV Tiger 12 craft operated by Kent UK based Meridian Marine. Although the hovercraft was originally providing passenger transport, Meridian’s managing director Paul Gaughan was soon receiving inquiries from the offshore wind sector and the vessel went to its first offshore wind farm job at Gunfleet Sands to provide diver rescue support cover which conventional craft could not maintain when sections of the work area dried out.
The hovercraft will continue to work supplying drilling barges on the Lincs wind farm site until the underground cabling reaches approximately 4km offshore, at which point water depths will allow conventional cable laying operations to take over.
The UK’s only one ton payload commercial hovercraft is fully certified to the MCA’s Hi-Speed Code and has an interchangeable interior layout which allows it to also carry 8 passengers. It is able to operate in force 4 winds and wave heights of up to 1m. A bespoke road transporter complete with crane allows it to operate anywhere in Europe. The vessel achieves 35 knots over water and 20 knots over land.
Whilst carrying all the safety equipment required by the MCA, the hovercraft is also equipped for SAR operations, with SART and EPIRB locaters. Also on board is a GPS chart plotter, Class A AIS, Sea Marshall MOB system, autocompass and two marine band radios.
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