Liebherr completes two offshore installations

The HLC 295000 has a lifting capacity of 5,000 tonnes and a maximum lifting height of 175 metres above deck, and was used on Orion, which Liebherr says is ‘currently considered the world’s most innovative vessel in the offshore wind industry’.

In the first project, French offshore wind farm Fécamp, Orion and the crane set down a 1,300-tonne jacket foundation on prepared seabed in preparation for a 2,200-tonne transformer platform to be placed on top.

“It was particularly important not to lose sight of the tight schedule and the weather conditions in Normandy. which was achieved not least thanks to the good dynamic positional system of the Orion and the high precision in the control of the HLC 295000,” says Liebherr-MCCtec Rostock.

For the German Arcadis Ost 1 wind farm in the Baltic Sea. the crane was used to install 28 monopile foundations with lengths of up to 110 metres and weighing up to 2,100 tonnes each.

“The innovation of the Orion is the ability to install the monopiles floating,” says Liebherr. “This means that no time-consuming jack-up process of the ship out of the water is necessary, as it has been the case up to now with jack-up units.”

Lieberr says the crane is often in use for 24 hours non stop.

”Our initial experience indicates that the installation times of previous vessels of about 3 to 3.5 days per monopile can be significantly reduced to about 0.9 to one day per monopile with the use of the Orion and our HLC,” said Robert Pitschmann, global application manager, Liebherr-MCCtec Rostock.

“The HLC series and the expansion of the heavy-duty crane range are firmly anchored in Liebherr’s strategy, not least because of the energy transition,” the company says. “In order to ensure a sustainable energy supply for present and future generations, significantly more and larger offshore wind turbines are being built.

“For the construction of these modern wind turbines, the lifting height of the HLC 295000 is a decisive factor. In addition, there is a trend towards decommissioning disused oil and gas platforms. This involves dismantling large and heavy parts on the open sea.”