KenzFigee, a Dutch lifting equipment firm providing services for the offshore energy industry, will deliver an electric hydraulic Ram Luffing offshore crane for installation on the HVDC offshore converter platform for RWE's Sofia offshore wind farm in the UK North Sea.
Under the contract signed with Iv-Offshore & Energy, KenzFigee will deliver a heavy-duty 3,000 type Ram Luffing crane, suited for harsh North Sea offshore operations.
"With its compact and robust design coupled with a limited number of moving parts, it is an ideal low maintenance offshore crane. The crane is equipped with a 40-meter long box boom which enables personnel handling and supply boat lifts of up to Hs-5m, according to EN13852-1, and platform lifts with safe working loads from 19 to 25 tonne," KenzFigee said, without sharing the financial details of the order.
To be built at the KenzFigee facility in Zaandam, the Netherlands, the crane will be shipped to Batam, Indonesia in the first quarter of 2022. Once in Batam, Sembcorp Marine will install the crane on the High Voltage Direct Current offshore converter platform being built for Sofia Offshore Wind Farm.
The offshore converter platform, at the heart of the wind farm, comprises a 17,000-tonne topside and jacket foundation structure piled into the seabed 220 km from the nearest shore.
According to Sembcorp Marine, the offshore converter platform will be one of the most powerful and most remote offshore converter platforms ever built.
Dutch offshore installation specialist Heerema Marine Contractors will transport and install the platform, with offshore installation works scheduled for 2024.
Heerema will install the platform using Sleipnir, the world's largest semi-submersible crane vessel (SSCV). The vessel has previously executed work for the Hollandse Kust and Hornsea 2 offshore wind farms, and most recently, just this week, it installed the Hornsea offshore substation topsides for Ørsted in the UK.
The 1,4GW Sofia Offshore Wind Farm, consisting of 100 Siemens Gamesa wind turbines, each with a 14MW capacity, will generate enough energy to power 1.2 million UK homes and will be one of the largest offshore wind farms in the world when completed. Located 195 km off the North East coastline of the United Kingdom, it will also be one of the farthest from shore.