Fred. Olsen 1848 and Huisman have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for a Floating Maintenance Solution that aims to solve the challenge of major component exchange at a floating wind site.

Fred. Olsen 1848 has innovated a complete solution and operational procedure for major component exchange for floating wind turbines. To develop the crane required for such operation, Fred. Olsen 1848 turned to Huisman, a company specialised in tailor made lifting solutions. The complete solution enables the exchange of turbine components at the offshore site and further removes the need for dynamic lifts when performing the component exchange offshore, which are both expensive and entails high operational risk.

Sofie Olsen Jebsen, CEO Fred. Olsen 1848: “Innovation and collaboration are key to realising commercial development of floating offshore wind. We have worked to solve the maintenance challenge in floating wind by building on the decade-long experience with O&M operations from our sister-companies Fred. Olsen Windcarrier and Global Wind Service. The present floating wind component exchange solutions are too costly in terms of assets required, downtime of the turbine and available weather windows. We believe the Floating Maintenance Solution will be a game-changer in the market and can enable the industrialisation of floating offshore wind.”

David Roodenburg, Chief Executive Officer at Huisman: “We are thankful that Fred. Olsen 1848 has selected us as their partner for realising their ambition to accelerate the maturity of the floating wind market. The combination of Fred. Olsen 1848’s dedication to innovate and the Fred. Olsen related companies’ extensive experience in O&M operations, together with Huisman’s capabilities in designing and building cranes to specific client needs has led to this unique crane setup.”

The Floating Maintenance Solution has already attracted the interest of several large floating offshore wind developers. The development of the solution is now entering a new phase where the next milestone is to conclude a detailed project FEED study with the aim of bringing the solution into operation before the end of this decade.

Features & benefits of the Fred. Olsen 1848 Floating Maintenance Solution

• Component exchange carried out on site with no need to disconnect the foundation and tow to port
• Positioned on the floating structure, the crane operates with the same motions as the floating foundation
• No dynamic lifts required to perform the component exchange
• Design agnostic and compatible with most semi-submerged floating structures
• No modifications needed on the tower or WTG
• Minimal modifications to the floating foundation
• Builds on proven technology and market leading competencies of the Fred. Olsen related companies
• In-field deployment of the crane can be performed by a regular offshore support vessel
• State of the art crane engineered and developed by Huisman featuring:
  • An expandable main boom and a foldable knuckle boom integrated in a compact self-supporting setup, to be transported safely and efficiently
  • A unique quick connection system, allowing the crane to be deployed in multiple lightweight modules, and such that it can be quickly deployed on any floating foundation prepared for this setup
  • An all-electric drive system, resulting in high positioning accuracy, low energy use, reduced maintenance, and high reliability
  • A dedicated energy storage system, allowing the crane’s power supply to come from the turbine’s auxiliary circuits, yet having sufficient energy available for crane operations

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