Heerema Marine Contractors has paused work at Taiwan Power’s 109MW Changhua Demo project off Taiwan to investigate a “dropfall incident” during pile installation.
A company spokesperson said it occurred on 15 June during pre-piling work for one of the project’s 21 four-legged jacket foundations.
A video of the incident seen by reNEWS showed a pin-pile suddenly descending into the seabed during piling, with the hammer detaching from the crane rigging.
“Heerema’s heavy lift vessel Aegir experienced a dropfall incident off the coast of Taiwan. There were no injuries as a result and no environmental impact has occurred,” a spokesperson for the company said.
“Work had just started on this project and currently, foundation installation has been temporarily paused pending investigation. The exact cause of the incident is yet unknown and will be the subject of a thorough investigation,” the spokesperson added.
Heerema is installing the foundations on behalf of the project’s EPCI contractor Jan De Nul.
JDN is responsible for the design, fabrication and installation of the foundations as well as installation of the project’s 21 Hitachi 5.2MW turbines.