Most of the existing fleet of wind turbine installation vessels will become obsolete by due to increased wind turbine sizes to accommodate higher MW capacity, larger foundation sizes, and deeper water wind farm sites.
Credit: VesselsValue. The major renewable operators at present are in Europe, with the UK having the most installed wind farms, followed by Germany, China, Denmark, Belgium, and the Netherlands. This is due to Europe being the current world leader in offshore wind power. However, the majority of under-construction wind farms are found in China and Vietnam.
Asia has the highest number of future planned wind farm projects with China planning 69 wind farm projects followed by Japan with 55 planned projects and South Korea with 41 projects. ABS has also remained a trusted advisor by supporting technology and innovation in offshore renewable energy, including:.
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Engineering Reviews. Earlier liftboats were small, with limited ability to withstand offshore environments and knot winds. The liftboat is the easiest fit. However, some significant changes have to be made:. Number of legs. Earlier liftboats were three-legged. They were wider than their four-legged descendants. The beam was close to the length. No serious attempt could be made at having a decent hull form. One of the first attempts made at some sort of a hull form was on the vessel now called the Al Ghweifat, in operation in the UAE.
For the most part, liftboats were unwieldy and awkward. That was acceptable. Although they were self-propelled, they moved relatively infrequently.
Three-leg vessels use ballast for preload. That makes the process longer. They have to be quick to deploy and quick to move. The four-legged option allows both in a complementary way. Four legs allow for quick preloading using the weight of the vessel, and the four legs allow for an opportunity to build in a hull form.
The oil and gas liftboats carried a maximum 2, tons of VDL; some a little higher. That VDL would be sufficient for only one of the modern wind turbines. Studies show a minimum four-turbine capacity is possible and ideal for the U. For that, VDL has to increase more than three-fold.
However, water depths and leg length are generally lower than those needed for oil exploration. That complements the high load. For example, the larger WTIVs would have leg lengths in the foot range, whereas the largest liftboat has a leg length of feet. See photograph. Efficient Hull Forms. European liftboats originated from jackups. They had relatively high depth at more than 20 feet and boxy hull forms. For a jackup, that was understandable, since jackups seldom moved were towed.
Over the years, hull form was added to meet the demands of the wind industry in particular. The spud cans were relatively small due to the hard soil, unlike the Gulf of Mexico. Across the pond in the U. These were a little better for propulsion and maneuvering but not for carrying capacity.
The smaller ones had large footings called pads instead of spud cans. These hung out of the hull like oars, further hurting the propulsion and steering characteristics of the vessel. Overall, these were not suited for efficient hull forms.
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