Solving the Fixed Offshore Wind Installation Bottleneck with a Crane-Less Jack Up Vessel

Abstract A jack-up solution is presented that requires no high-capacity crane to facilitate the installation of wind turbines generators (WTG) of any capacity, lifted to any height. The result is compared to similar systems currently used for offshore wind installations. Along with the performance comparison, safety and cost-related items will be assessed. The new design is based on the use of an Orca system - a new technology developed by CLS Wind. It considers the flow of components from the deck, the supply gateway requirements, description of forces, stress analysis, dynamics, motions and loading and offloading of components. A description of the sequence that will simplify the installation process and minimize the number of moving parts and required equipment, is provided. Another intrinsic advantage of this system resides on the safety aspect; rather than on using the traditional crane-based systems (i.e., wire rope dependent, hanging loads), the system movement is always secured and stable A 15MW wind turbine, with expected component performance, dimensional and weight data provided by NREL, is utilized for study purposes. Interfaces of the Orca systems have been studied to facilitate the interconnection of the elevation platform and the component gateway. One of the most relevant findings is related to the non-essential crane need for WTG components transfer from the vessel to the Orca platform, and that is important because of the urgency to increase the installation fleet to deploy the amount of wind turbines needed to meet the USA 2035 energy goals, as well as to lower the cost for installation and service. The novelty of the new design is the ability to install any size wind turbine on a fixed wind monopile or jacket without the need of a high-reach & high-capacity crane on board, which are hard to obtain and only one vessel in the US is qualified for this work, under the Jones Act. This solution would also be Jones Act qualified.