Dutch Company Launches Wind Turbine Foundation Installation Vessel Design
Vuyk Engineering Rotterdam has launched a design for a new offshore wind foundation installation vessel (FIV), called VERticale, in response to ever-growing wind turbines needing larger foundations.
"VERticale is developed for an optimized deck layout," says Kuno van den Berg, Department Manager Operational Engineering at Vuyk Engineering Rotterdam.
"The location of the offshore crane, motion compensated gripper, and position of monopiles are all fine-tuned for efficiency. Compared to other vessels and concepts for future foundation installation, VERticale aims for a minimum number of offshore handling operations.
"Not only loading and seafastening is done in a controlled port environment, also upending. This results in less motion sensitive operations offshore and therefore, lower risk and an increased weather window for the actual monopile installation. Thus, operating expenses (OPEX) are reduced”.
According to Vuyjk Enginering Rotterdam, the transport layout with vertically positioned monopiles results in a relatively compact vessel of 218 x 70 meters. For monopile or jacket installation, VERticale is outfitted with a 5000-tonne offshore crane with sufficient lifting height and overturning moment capacity.
Lowering CAPEX
“The challenge was to find a balance between vessel capabilities for installing future wind turbine generator foundations, with a clear focus on capital expenditure (CAPEX) minimization combined with the same or lower OPEX," says Nicky Mayenburg, Technical Sales Manager.
"Other solutions and concepts have been studied, but most result in larger vessel dimensions and more complex handling operations when the vessel is offshore. The VERticale setup results in a balanced solution for installing future wind farms.
VERticale Specs:
Design: Vuyk Engineering Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Length over all: 218.00 m
Breadth moulded: 70.00 m
Free deck area: 10,500 m2
Crane capacity: 5,000 mt @ 50 m outreach