Germany – DEME Offshore has installed the first XXL monopile at Parkwind’s Arcadis Ost 1 offshore wind farm in Germany, using Orion, the newest member of the DEME fleet and the most innovative vessel in the offshore wind industry.
The 28 giant monopile foundations will be installed by DEME’s floating DP3 offshore installation vessel, which are the largest monopile foundations ever built in Europe at 110 m long and weighing more than 2,000 tonnes each. Orion is the first floating monohulled vessel capable of performing these operations, drastically reducing installation times.
Orion has dual fuel engines and is powered by LNG at the Arcadis Ost 1 project, in addition to its ability to handle next-generation mega foundations and turbines. It is the industry’s first foundation installation vessel to run on LNG, significantly lowering the operations’ CO2 footprint.
Exceeding expectations
Arcadis Ost 1 is located northeast of RĆ¼gen Island in the German Baltic Sea. Every aspect of this offshore wind project exceeds industry expectations. Orion has a 5,000-tonne crane and a motion-compensated gripper system that can handle massive foundations weighing up to 2,500 tonnes.
The crew can upend the monopiles, which are transported horizontally on deck, using the integrated motion compensated pile gripper tool. The gripper, when combined with the vessel’s DP3 capability, allows the monopiles to remain vertical and stable in the face of motions and waves. Several noise mitigation systems are integrated into the gripper in order to reduce underwater noise while hammering. Orion has a spacious, unobstructed deck and a deadweight that has been maximized so it can handle the heaviest monopiles, jackets, and wind turbine components, with a total installed power of 44,180 kW and a length of 216.5 m.
