Heerema, Vestas and Parkwind complete its first wind turbine installation using a revolutionary floating installation method.
The plan to use a floating installation method for Arcadis Ost 1 was announced for the first time in November 2019. Today, after almost 3 years of development and engineering, we have successfully executed the floating installation of the first Arcadis Ost 1 turbine. This innovative method has two main advantages. The first is zero seabed interaction especially important in areas of significant water depth or challenging soil conditions. The second advantage is a shorter installation cycle.
To speed up the installation process, assembly and lifting operations are happening in parallel. One of the Thialf’s two main cranes lifts the pre-assembled WTG-tower to the foundation, whilst the second main crane is used to pre-assemble the WTG in parallel. For the latter, Heerema developed a method where the Rotor Nacelle Assembly (RNA) lift takes place on a so-called “support” tower on board of the crane vessel. The support tower provides a stable platform to allow a fast and secure assembly of the nacelle and the blades. Once pre-assembled the complete RNA is lifted as one piece onto the WTG tower in only one lift. The pre-assembly process on board the Thialf ensures full control thereby guaranteeing a safe and highly reliable installation environment. The reduced number of lifts between the vessel and the structure eliminates key risks of the floating installation. Vestas has delivered RNA lift-feasible components by developing new tools to support the offshore floating installation.
The Arcadis Ost 1 is a 257 MW wind farm developed by Parkwind, located in the German territorial waters of the Baltic Sea, northeast of the island of Rügen and will generate enough green energy to power the equivalent of up to 290,000 households. It is Europe’s first wind farm equipped with Vestas’ V174-9.5MW turbines and Parkwind’s first international project. The installation campaign has started in June 2022 and wind farm’s final commissioning is planned in 2023.
