Houlder has delivered the first of two pile upending tools to be used during the foundation installation campaign at the 400MW Rampion offshore wind farm off the south coast of England.
The Marine engineering company said the first of the devices has already been installed on the MPI jack-up Discovery which is currently in action on the 116-turbine site.
The device can reduce crane times and installation costs, and it can also keep crew away from potentially hazardous deck locations, the company said.
Houlder project director Andy Lovell said: “The pile upending tools are compatible with 855 tonne, 5 metre diameter piles. These are not small pieces of equipment and handling them offshore, let alone upending them from 0 to 90 degrees, is one of the riskiest operations during wind farm construction.
“Our tool needed to be incredibly robust, but also lightweight enough to ensure easy integration with existing craneage. Some very ingenious design work has gone into the steel structure and hydraulics.”
A second device will be fitted to Swire Blue Ocean jack-up Pacific Orca when the vessel reaches the site later this year to begin its installation work.
Rampion is being developed by Eon, the UK Green Investment Bank and Canadian energy company Enbridge. It will be commissioned in 2018.
Image: Houlder
Houlder joins Rampion party
Marine company supplies pile upending tools for installation campaign
By EBS