The Boom Lock is a system that is mounted on an offshore crane, and is designed to control the movement of the crane hook and the payload in such a way that wind turbine blade installation time can be drastically reduced. High Wind claims that this results both in considerable cost savings under the form of reduced cost for installation vessels, installation crews and related costs, as well as increased income due to earlier production from the wind farm. High Wind also says that the use of the Boom Lock will increase safety during the installation of the wind turbines as uncontrolled movements in windy conditions will be dramatically reduced.
Ole Jacob Wang Nielsen, Head of Business Development of High Wind, commented on the agreement “We are honoured to have been trusted by GeoSea to prepare their newest jack-up vessel Apollo for the Boom Lock system. With the system installed, the Apollo will be capable of safer and more efficient installation of turbines and blades in higher wind speeds”.
The first Boom Lock was completed in January 2015 and undertook extensive testing at the REBO site in the port of Ostend. The system outperformed the design specification by keeping a 6MW-turbine blade steady in wind speed of 15 m/s with gusts of up to 20 m/s. Since then, the Book Lock system has completed its first offshore installation project, supporting the installation of 15 x MHI Vestas V112 3.3MW wind turbines at Vattenfall’s Kentish Flats Extension.
“There is a large potential for the industry in reducing costs by increasing workability offshore. As the turbines and blades grow in size, the weather limits and controllability during lifting operations will decrease, unless we introduce smart solutions” explained Bart De Poorter, General Manager of GeoSea.
By Jake Frith
