Rough weather jack-up cuts windfarm costs
Ravestein has developed a special jack up platform, with extras, that has a better ability to deal with wind and waves and can work in depths of 40m.
The special in-house design has been, David Ravestein told MJ, put together to broaden the wind farm working windows, critical to minimising construction costs.
The 70m by 38m platform has an overall jacking speed of 30m per hour.
However, the most important aspect is that it combines continuous jacking with an advanced damping system. Whereas most jack-ups have to stop work when the waves start to get high, Ravestein’s 2000M construction unit has dynamically positioned damping mechanisms on its four 80m legs, driven by four 1,750 kW thrusters. These enable the platform, which has earned the Germanischer Lloyd notation, 100A5 Self-elevating Unit DP2 MCAut, Unrestricted service, to retain capabilities in 2m significant wave height and still keep working.
The platform can also keep working with a wind speed maximum of 25m per second, and current of 1m per second.
It has room for 60 people to live and work onboard, with a full range of galleys, mess rooms, offices, recreational areas, workshops, hospital, bridge and so on. It is also designed to support an optional 17,500 tonne crane and an auxiliary deck crane which has its capability broadened by the addition of a runner and man-riding basket.
Alongside this, Ravestein has developed a service tower which reaches to 90m above the main deck, which can assist with the installation of a variety offshore turbine components and has, itself, a lifting capacity up to 25 tonnes. It can be fitted onto the new or old platforms to guide components into position, limiting the wind’s impact and giving a big improvement over conventional crane operations.
Technical specification:
RCP- 2000M
Length: 70.00m
Width: 38.00m
Depth: 6.00m
Draught: 4.25m
Leg Length: 80.00m
Payload: 2,000 tonnes
