WTIV for New Era Offshore Wind Turbines

Van Oord, a Dutch marine and offshore services company, has recently ordered from Yantai CIMC Raffles Shipyard in China, a new offshore wind turbine installation vessel (WTIV) with the scope of installing new era wind turbines, rated up to 20MW.

“The jack-up vessel can operate on methanol and install up to 20 MW wind turbines at sea with a very low CO2 footprint. The investment is in line with the increasing global demand for offshore wind farms. The ship is expected to enter the market in 2024,”

Van Oord

The fact that there is a significant and growing number of offshore projects planned over the next decade, while also that the turbines and foundations get larger, will breed the demand for more than 100 new offshore wind turbine and foundation installation/maintenance vessels to replace the outdated fleet, according to a recent report by World Energy Reports.

As the EU aims to install 300 GW of offshore wind capacity by 2050 which worldwide is expected to reach 2000 GW of offshore wind energy, Van Oord has stated that the demand for offshore wind farms remains high.

“In the Netherlands, the goal is to realise 20 GW up to 2030 and another 20 GW of offshore wind energy in the next decade…Wind turbines at sea are also rapidly getting bigger. In 2002 there were wind turbines of 2 MW, nowadays turbines of 14 MW are installed. The rotor blades are already well over a hundred metres long and the transport and installation requires larger ships. Van Oord is investing in a new vessel to transport and install the next generation of 20 MW wind turbines…This investment prepares us for the increase in scale in the offshore wind industry and allows us to maintain our leadership position.

Pieter van Oord, CEO Van Oord

The subject 175-meter long WTIV will be able to transport and install foundations as well as turbines at offshore wind farms. Equipped with a Huisman Leg Encircling Crane with the capability of lifting more than 3,000 tonnes. 

“Thanks to our experiences with the installation vessels Aeolus, MPI Resolution and MPI Adventure, we have a good grasp of working with jack-up installation vessels. Now we are going one step further – the new ship will be the largest of its kind. Compared to the Aeolus, this new version has 88% more deck space and over 80% more lifting capacity,”

Arnoud Kuis, Managing Director Offshore Wind, Van Oord

In an effort to minimize the carbon footprint of their activities, Van Oord will have the vessel developed to run on the future fuel methanol which sets to reduce the CO2 emissions by 78%.

Moreover, it goes without saying that the vessel will be equipped with a Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) system, an advanced active emissions control technology to reduce the NOx emission to an absolute minimum.

At last, the fuel consumption and corresponding emissions will be lowered even further by installing a 5,000 kWh battery pack that can take the peak loads and regenerate energy.

Photo: Van Oord