Dutch offshore equipment maker Huisman has won a contract to deliver a 2,300 mt Lifting Spreader and a set of adaptive Damping Tugger Winches to DEME Offshore's offshore installation vessel Orion.
Huisman said that the equipment was designed to increase the safety and efficiency of monopile installation.
"The unique design enables hands-free sling handling of monopiles, controlled remotely, and powered by an exchangeable battery pack," Huisman said.
The lifting spreader is designed for the installation of next-generation monopiles and can be extended in order to handle 120m long monopiles with a diameter of up to 12m, the Dutch firm added.
Huisman will additionally deliver a set of remote-operated damping tugger winches, which actively suppress the sway motion of the monopile during lifting operations, increasing workability and safety.
The Orion vessel was expected to debut last year at the Moray East offshore wind farm in the UK, however, in May 2020, during crane load tests at the quayside at the Liebherr construction yard in Rostock, Germany, the giant crane collapsed, suffering significant damage, and delaying the vessel delivery.
Orion is expected to be deployed for the construction of the largest offshore wind farms, to service the oil and gas industry, and for the decommissioning of offshore installations.
One of the projects Orion will be working on is Parkwind's Arcadis Ost 1 offshore wind farm in Germany which reached financial close in June.
The wind farm will be located in the German territorial waters of the Baltic Sea, northeast of the island of Rügen. It will generate enough electricity to power the equivalent of up to 290,000 households as of 2023.
Offshore installation works are due to begin in 2022 and the wind farm is expected to be fully operational in 2023.
The Orion will install the XXL monopiles fabricated by Steelwind, upon which Heerema will install 27 V174 – 9,5MW wind turbine generators supplied by Vestas.
DEME Offshore has dubbed the DP3 offshore installation vessel as "a mega monopile installation machine," which will be equipped with a motion-compensated gripper system able to handle "enormous foundations of up to 2,500 tonnes."