The ins and outs of a difficult deployment
Kirkwall Harbour has seen a lot of the jack up rig ‘Pauline’.
Foundations for a tidal current turbine test rig have yet again been delayed – this time by a snapped tow rope. Michael Morrison of Orkney Marine Services explains the ups and downs of the jack up’s problems to MJ.
The problems started on Friday 23 July, when the jack-up rig Pauline was towed to the EMEC test site at the Falls of Warness to install a monopole for the test rig foundations.
However, following concerns that the barge’s legs might not be long enough to work in high tide, it was returned to Kirkwall Harbour. A second attempt was made on Sunday 25 July, but it ran into difficulties when it became clear a stable foundation for the barge could not be established before the onset of the next tide.
More difficulties emerged when one of the support tugs, the Stevns Ocean was forced to reduce power due to an engine failure and was not able to assist with the refloating of the barge when it became obvious that once again it had to be towed away from the site. A precautionary notification was issued to the Shetland coastguard, but the jack-down and re-floating was completed without incident with the vessels already present, notably the tug Erlend, which brought the Pauline back to Kirkwall. The coastguard vessel Anglian Prince was called to assist but was not required.
‘This last attempt which took place on Sunday 1 August was hampered by a snapped tow rope, and once again the jack up rig has had to be taken back to Kirkwall,’ adds Mr Morrison.
Wolfgang Maier, project manager for Voith Hydro, commented: ‘We were not happy that the deployment was not accomplished this time but were pleased at the way in which our team responded to a challenging situation. Their swift reactions enabled us the maintain control of the barge.’
However, he went on to say, ‘We have learned a lot about the site and the barge from this and will build this learning into the next deployment.’
There’s been no confirmation that these difficulties will delay the schedule for the installation of the turbine in around a year’s time.
Images for this article - click to enlarge
Unless otherwise stated, all images copyright © Mercator Media 2012. This does not exclude the owner's assertion of copyright over the material.
