Belgian shipowner DEME is upgrading one of its wind turbine installation vessels (WTIVs) ahead of its debut contract in the US.
The DP2-rated Sea Installer (built 2015) will have its crane capacity increased from 900 tonnes to 1,600 tonnes to enable it to handle the next generation of offshore wind turbines.
Huisman, which is supplying the leg encircling crane, said it will have a limited weight impact on the vessel.
Marro Vreys, business unit director wind turbine generators (WTG) at DEME Offshore, said: “We are willing to make the necessary investment in new technology to make sure that our fleet is ready for the future.
“This allows us to maintain our position as the industry leader in WTG installation and also to assist the offshore wind sector as it looks to take the next step, deploying even more powerful turbines.”
The upgraded Sea Installer will be deployed for the first time at the 800 MW Vineyard Wind 1 project, one of the first large-scale wind farms in the US.
Vineyard Wind 1 will feature 62 GE Haliade-X offshore turbines, which will have a 220-metre rotor, 107-metre blades and will measure 248 metres high.
The Sea installer is currently being deployed at the Hornsea Two offshore wind farm in the UK.
In addition, DEME said it has secured an option to upgrade the crane on the jack-up installation vessel Sea Challenger (built 2014). Financial terms were not disclosed.
DEME is the latest WTIV owner to upgrade its tonnage to meet the future needs of growing turbine sizes currently under design by major manufacturers.
Oslo-listed Cadeler announced late last year that it was carrying out similar upgrades to its existing vessels — the 24,586-gt Pacific Osprey and Pacific Orca (both built 2012).
However, even with these latest upgrades, the existing DEME and Cadeler vessels will still be inferior to recently contracted newbuildings.
US-listed Eneti — the former Scorpio Bulkers — is building a WTIV at South Korea’s Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering, which will be fitted with a 2,600-tonne capacity crane.
With this lifting capacity, the crane will be able to install turbines of up to 20 MW, which are expected to come to the market in the near future, according to Huisman.
Earlier this month, Belgium's Jan De Nul said it was selling one of its two older WTIVs ahead of the delivery of the next-generation of ships.
The company said the decision to sell was a result of the rapid change in future offshore wind component sizes, requiring larger and custom-designed installation vessels during construction.
