Offshore wind turbine installation company Cadeler, until recently known as Swire Blue Oceanhas ordered a new crane for its Wind Orca ship to prepare it for the giant offshore wind turbines of the future.
The company has signed a contract with National Oilwell Varco to install a new crane on the Wind Orca wind turbine installation vessel and retains the option to supply a crane on the Wind Osprey vessel.
The new crane will have a lifting capacity of 1,600 tons in a 40 meter radius with the main hook at a height of 159.7 meters above the main deck. This is a significant improvement in today’s ship capacity (1200 tons of deadweight in a 31 meter radius) and enables the installation of next generation offshore wind turbines.
“The offshore market is moving towards the installation of larger, next-generation wind turbines in excess of 14 MW, which requires improved crane lifting capacity of the vessels used to install, operate and maintain offshore wind turbines,” said Cadeler.
The crane replacement for Wind Orca is expected to start in October 2023 and be completed in March 2024.
The total value of the contract to replace cranes on both ships is $ 102 million, including the decommissioning of the old cranes and the design, manufacture and installation of the new cranes. The costs will be funded from the company’s cash flow over the years 2021 to 2024.
Mikkel Gleerup, CEO of Cadeler, said: “How we communicated in connection with our listing at the beginning of the year, Replacing cranes on our existing ships is an important strategic priority for Cadeler. Our ships are already some of the best in the business, but the new and improved cranes will cement our position as the main supplier to the offshore wind industry.
“With the offshore wind turbine market growing significantly, we intend to enable Cadeler to meet market and customer expectations for world class installation vessels in the years ahead. We are therefore very pleased with today’s announcement we are implementing an important part of our strategy for the benefit of our customers and investors. “
The company says the offshore wind turbine market is developing rapidly and is expected to average over 13 percent annual growth through 2030.
“Currently, the industry is focused on installing larger, next-generation wind turbines, exceeding 14 MW. Cadeler has one such project on its books,” the company said.
Notably, GE announced earlier on Friday that it would receive an order for the first deployment of its upscaled company 14 MW Haliade-X wind turbine. The turbines will be delivered to the Dogger Bank C offshore wind farm in the UK. Siemens Gamesa is also working on wind turbines with up to 15 MW output.
