Friede & Goldman has announced that the classification society, American Bureau of Shipping has granted Approval in Principle for its wind turbine installation vessel (WTIV) BargeRack technology.
F&G is keen on contributing its expertise and technologies to further advance and accelerate the development of US offshore wind.
F&G believes its BargeRack technology is a superior feeder vessel solution. Typical feeder vessels are inherently risky due to motions during turbine equipment handling. Building upon F&G’s jack-up expertise, F&G engineers created a new WTIV design that completely eliminates feeder vessel motions, resulting in safe and simple turbine installation. F&G’s BargeRack technology also reduces feeder vessel cost by an order of magnitude compared to other feeder solutions.
In recent years, F&G has been applying their knowledge and technology from the over 120 F&G built oil-field jack-up rigs to the offshore wind industry. This technology includes their robust leg design, leg wear extended life cycle, easily accessible jacking pinions for in-service maintenance, fully automatic lubrication systems, wear compensating guide systems, afloat spud can inspection & maintenance, etc. – all designed to reduce downtime and increase productivity