First US wind farm completed!

Lifting of a blade rack from the supply vessel to Van Oords Aeolus, using the Seaqualize HC750

First project finished: All 12 turbines on the first US large scale Wind project safely offloaded and installed!

And just like that, the total US offshore wind capacity has been quadrupled! After years of planning,  the first commercial scale offshore wind farm in the US is now completed. Seaqualize played a crucial role in getting the 11 MW turbines to Van Oord’s Offshore Installation Vessel the Aeolus , by fast lifting all components from the  feeder barge. It is the first time this operation is done using this completely new turbine feeder operation.

During the full project, the Seaqualize HC750 and its operators were responsible for safely transferring over 25.000 metric tons between the barge and the Aeolus, the total equivalent of 2,5 Eiffel Towers. First, the HC750 follows the barge motions to ensure the Aeolus crane could safely connect with the component. Then, the HC750 gently tensions the crane rigging, while keeping the wave heave motions compensated, and lastly it fast lifts the components off deck with 0,5 m/s. This way, the delicate turbine components such as towers, nacelles and blade racks, weighing up to 750mT per piece, are protected from hitting the deck which is constantly heaving up and down. After everything is safely lifted off, the HC750 gently places secondary lifting equipment back on the barge, for the next load out.

Wytze Kuipers – Project Manager Offshore Wind – Van Oord : “Many said feedering turbines in the open ocean would be too complex, especially in the winter season. But with good team work and innovations like the Seaqualize Heave Chief, we’ve shown it can be done!”

Working through the winter in the open ocean

Another big first is the operational season: feedering and installation of the turbines in the open Atlantic Ocean, in the winter. The first turbine was installed in November of last year, and the last one in February of 2024. Besides snow and ice making the operations more difficult, hasher wind and wave conditions normally would greatly hinder the operational weather window for lifting operations. Van Oord, and Seaqualize have shown that detailed engineering, deploying innovative machinery and careful execution allows operations to continue. This is essential when thinking about the installation pace required to get to the global offshore wind goals we need: install not only in summer season, but all year round!

Record times

Like any offshore installation project, efficient operational cycle times are important to reduce time spent at sea, and limit both risk and costs. This being a completely new type of operation, the team was anxious to see what turnaround times it could achieve. A flexible machine with a wide range of functionalities, decades of offshore contracting experience by Van Oord, further learning on the job and strong US and EU teams working together has resulted in operational times exceeding Client expectations.: After the initial lessons learned were incorporated into the offshore procedures, the feeder vessel operation including all transfer lifts for one set of WTG components could be  completed within a day. Furthermore, the HC750 proofed itself on its maiden project with a critical uptime of >99%, ensuring nobody had to wait for safe fast lifts.

 Feel free to reach out, in case you want to discuss further insights, and how your project could benefit from the same efficiency, safety and higher levels of control!