Range of wind turbine installation cranes launched
Aimed mainly at jack-up vessels, a customised range of wind turbine installation cranes has recently been designed for the wind farm market by Dutch company Huisman Equipment BV.
The new cranes have an especially low construction weight, gained from the use of high tensile steel (yield strength 690 MPa) for the construction. The units also benefit from the minor tail swing of the existing Huisman crane designs. Other features include an extensive lifting height and a small minimum operational radius. The turbine lifting range includes pedestal and ringer units which spread the weight across a wider area, bringing down deck pressures appreciably. The cranes, which besides having a small footprint, also have the option of being installed around the leg of the jack-up, giving extra flexibility to wind farm operations. The units can further be outfitted with additional features to ensure a safe installation procedure at high elevations.
This expansion of its heavy lifting products has, the company says, been driven by operational experience as well as the desire to bring something new to the rapidly expanding wind farm installation market. The cranes have not only been designed to install the turbines that exist currently but also have an eye to the larger, upscaled wind farms of the future.
Huisman has kept to its basic low maintenance philosophy and most of the major components are installed inside the crane. Electric cranes tend to be more reliable than hydraulic driven units, says the company, because there is a relative lack of mechanical components to wear out (like the hoses which need replacing every few years in hydraulic units). Another advantage is that noise levels are kept down. Also, the interface between the crane and vessel is very simple because the unit only needs a power supply to connect with.
Huisman cranes currently in use on wind turbine installations include the two 800mt and one 1,700mt A-frames onboard Scaldis’ Multipurpose Heavy Lift Vessel Rambiz, the 1,600mt sheerleg Taklift 4 owned by Smit, the 300mt cranes onboard Seajacks’ Kraken and Leviathan and the 900mt cranes onboard Jumbo Offshore’s Javelin and Fairplayer. Two 750mt cranes to be used for a large wind turbine installation project are currently under construction for Master Marine.
