Dutch vibro-piling specialist CAPE Holland has been awarded a contract by Seaway 7 to supply a Vibro Lifting Tool (VLT) for monopile foundations for Kaskasi offshore windfarm offshore Germany.

First deployment of a multiple vibro hammer for monopiles in 2012 at Riffgat OWF

First deployment of a multiple vibro hammer for monopiles in 2012 at Riffgat OWF

Seaway 7 has already used the CAPE vibro equipment back in 2012 for the first time to drive the monopiles for the Riffgat project. Since then Seaway 7 has used the vibro equipment on a number of Oil and Gas projects and last year also on an offshore wind project in Taiwan.

With the unique capabilities of being a certified offshore lifting tool with the ability of upending and driving the piles quickly with reduced noise emissions, CAPE Holland believes it is set to be a gamechanger in the Offshore Wind industry. The Vibro Lifting Tool for this project will have multiple vibro hammers linked together to provide a total of 1920kgm which makes this the most powerful vibro pile driver in the world.

A specially developed clamping system will be used to create the interface between the Vibro Lifting Tool and the flanged top of the monopiles. CAPE Holland CEO Laurens de Neef commented: ”We have always believed to be able to provide an installation tool which can significantly reduce overall costs of the installation of monopiles for offshore wind farms and we’re very happy that all our hard work over the previous years is now paying off and creating the opportunity for us to prove this. We like to thank both Seaway 7 and innogy for their support of the vibro technology and we are looking forward to further building on this relationship”.

The Vibro Lifting Tool™ (VLT) is able to pick up a stored pile, upend it to a vertical position, lift it to the correct position and drive it down (monitoring verticality while driving) in one single handling operation without the need of a gripper or seabed installation frame. Due to the modular design the equipment can be deployed for the installation of a large range of piles, from small anchor piles to XXL Monopiles (up to 2500t) and anything in between. CAPE Holland was founded in 2002 as a family business with five generations of experience in the areas of construction, foundation and piling equipment. It develops, designs and builds their own Vibro Lifting Tools and rents out the offshore piling equipment globally. The company is represented with offices in Beilen (HQ), Houston and Singapore.

By Jake Frith