Measuring roughly 150 meters in size and with a 32-meter beam, the FLOW-SV will be capable of take all of the supplies and tools wanted to put in three floaters, saving time on transits and loading.
With floating offshore wind selecting up tempo, the Damen group has developed a Floating Offshore Wind Support Vessel idea designed to speed up the event of the sector.
Called the FLOW-SV, the vessel is designed to put in floor tackles for offshore turbine floaters. It can load the in depth lengths of chain wanted to put in and safe 9 anchors or suction piles. Instead of mooring one floating wind turbine in a mission, three may be secured. The vessel additionally applies enough proof loading on the anchors to make the set up extra environment friendly.
“With the FLOW-SV, we have developed a vessel which covers the entire process of attaching mooring lines,” says Wijtze van der Leij, gross sales supervisor at Damen. “This vessel, combining the supply, installation, securing and inspection of the ground tackles for floating turbines in one vessel, introduces a big step forward towards large scale installation of floating wind farms.”
“At the moment, we are still in the concept phase,” says van der Leij. “But we are now entering a stage where we would like to partner up to refine and customize this concept. Together with a launching customer, we aspire to accelerate the floating offshore wind farm installation industry.”
Damen says that, secured in any respect three corners, a floater wants three floor tackles and the scale and weight of anchors and chains wanted are so massive {that a} bigger vessel is required than any anchor dealing with vessel earlier than
Measuring roughly 150 meters in size and with a 32-meter beam, the FLOW-SV will be capable of take all of the supplies and tools wanted to put in three floaters, saving time on transits and loading.
When Damen engineers outlined the quantities of substances that the FLOW-SV might want to take onboard to have the ability to set up three floaters in a base case of 100 meters water depth, their calculations added as much as 5 kilometers of chain (chain hyperlinks of 152 mm diameter) 4.5 kilometers of fiber rope of 112 mm diameter, 9 anchors every weighing 15 tons and virtually 100 clump weights of 10 tons every, D-shackles, tensioners, in addition to metal cable. Getting the gear to the place of operation means the vessel carries a load in extra of 4,000 tons. Depending on seabed situations, depth and wind farm operator necessities, anchors may be changed with suction piles to supply a safe floor sort out.
When deploying the anchors at sea, the chain is guided to giant winches on the ahead finish of the FLOW-SV’s giant open aft deck, from the place it leads over the deck to the strict the place it’s deployed into the water. A 250-ton crane (at 12.5 meters attain) with energetic heave compensation is put in alongside the aft deck’s starboard aspect whereas two smaller cargo rail cranes can be found for dealing with gear on deck. A triple drum anchor winch can deploy 600 tons pulling power.
A singular function of the FLOW-SV is the mixture of bollard pull generated by the thrusters and added pulling power from the bow response anchor winch. This provides as much as 1,000 tons of proof load. The FLOW-SV deploys the bow anchor and embeds it by reversed bollard pull. It then strikes to the spot the place the anchor for the floater must be put in. After letting out sufficient chain size, the anchor for the floater must be proof loaded, guaranteeing a safe seabed connection. Using the 4 thrusters, FLOW-SV develops 400 tons of bollard pull. Pulling energy is enhanced by the ahead anchor dealing with winch, which generates one other 600 tons. At that second, roughly 1,000 tons of proof-load is appearing on the turbine floater anchor.
Two fastened propellers in nozzles and two azimuthing thrusters on the stern propel the FLOW-SV and supply ahead bollard pull. These propellers in nozzles flip 180 levels to supply ample reverse bollard pull when the bow anchor is about. The azimuthing thrusters are additionally engaged for dynamic positioning, along with the retractable azimuthing thruster and tunnel thrusters within the bow part of the vessel.
Sea backside inspection is required to find out the perfect spot to put in the anchor. FLOW-SV has two working class ROVs (distant operated autos) with two separate management rooms subsequent to a moonpool. After putting in the anchors for the turbine floater, the ROVs may be deployed via the moonpool for inspection of the anchor and to see if it has dug in to supply safe floor connection.
The FLOW-SV is laid out to be used of renewable methanol as gasoline. Tanks and piping are in place in keeping with security rules for this future gasoline. Six turbines feed the electrical thrusters. When the floater anchors are being secured and most bollard pull is required, the 2 fastened 5.5 meter propellers in nozzles are engaged. At transit journeys between harbors and windfarm websites, the azimuthing 4.5-meter propeller measurement thrusters propel the vessel. This eliminates the necessity for rudders. All propulsion items are positioned to have the least potential interference with anchor chains.
Analysis of deliberate set up of floating wind generators offshore, signifies that this new sort of set up vessel is required, says Damen. Large anchor dealing with vessels accessible right now have restricted carrying capability and are booked in long-time charters or in different maritime operations. Planned wind farm set up would require some 100 vessels of the FLOW-SV sort.
Damen began the event of FLOW-SV with enter from trade specialists together with Temporary Works Design (TWD), First Marine Solutions (FMS) and Intermoor.
Knowledge about essential mission tools specs was supplied by Kongsberg and McGregor.
Damen goals to be a one cease store for floating wind farm set up operations. Besides creating this new sort of vessel, it might probably additionally provide the chains, floaters, and the vessels for towing.
“We can assist in finance constructions as well,” provides Damen.
