TSC Offshore Corp., a wholly owned subsidiary of CMIC Ocean En-Tech Holding Co. Ltd., and Offshoretronic S.L. have signed a memorandum of understanding to bring together the two components of Offshoretronic’s technical engineering experiences in offshore wind transportation and installation, and comprehensive TSC offshore equipment design and manufacturing capabilities.
The companies will jointly develop and commercialize a key solution that will change the traditional methods of installing monopiles of offshore wind farms. Next-generation offshore wind turbine units between 15-20 MW are expected to enter into the market in 2024-2030 and will be installed in water depths of 40-70 meters. This will require a new generation of monopiles 100-130 meters in length, 12-15 meters in outer diameter and weight up to 5,000 mt. Transportation and installation of monopiles typically make up one to four days of the installation cycle time and contribute, on average, 20% of the cost of installation, mainly due to the necessity to deploy high-cost vessels with heavy lift crane to install monopiles safely and effectively.
Designed by Offshoretronic, a unique tilting and lifting beam and roll-on concept are tailor-made to safely perform transportation and installation of the next generation of monopiles on which wind turbines will be installed. This solution will largely reduce costs and time required, and most importantly will result in significant reduction of operational risks during loading in port, up-ending, lifting and installation offshore. This solution is designed to be installed on a mobile elevated platform (jack-up platform) and has been showcased in a concept vessel, Vitruvian, which is able to transport and seamlessly install monopiles up to 5,000 mt.
