The world's first 3,000-ton self-elevating wind power installation vessel built by Qidong COSCO Shipping Heavy Industry has completed its sea trial.

2022-07-28 09:00

On July 28, the Voltaire (N966), a fourth-generation wind turbine installation vessel built by COSCO SHIPPING Heavy Industry (Qidong) for Belgium's JAN DE NUL Group, set sail for sea trials. These sea trials will complete tests of the navigation system, dynamic positioning system, pile driving and lifting, and the maximum lifting capacity of the main crane.

The N966 wind turbine installation vessel is an EPC turnkey project customized for a well-known European ship owner. The vessel is 169.3 meters long, 60 meters wide, and 14.6 meters deep, equipped with four truss-type legs, allowing it to maintain stable working conditions at sea, and is fitted with a DP2 system.

This project is specifically designed for the transportation, lifting, and installation of offshore wind power equipment. It has an operating depth exceeding 80 meters, a payload of approximately 16,000 tons, and a main crane lifting capacity exceeding 3,000 tons—all top figures for this type of vessel. It can be used to install offshore wind turbines up to 18-20MW. Compared to existing self-elevating wind turbine installation vessels, this vessel offers better operability. It can not only accommodate next-generation wind turbines and bases, but its larger deck space will also optimize offshore installation work and reduce fuel consumption and emissions. This project will not only prepare for the future of offshore renewable energy but can also be used in the oil and gas industry and for the dismantling of offshore structures.

During project execution, to ensure smooth and rapid progress, the company established a special task force for key projects. This task force conducted special planning for key projects, streamlined processes, identified influencing factors for all processes, proactively communicated and negotiated, developed effective countermeasures, and promoted the achievement of node plans.

Since March of this year, the domestic and international epidemic situation has become increasingly severe, significantly impacting personnel movement and cargo transportation, adding difficulties and adverse effects to project execution. On April 1, due to the surrounding epidemic situation, the company's location was designated as a controlled area. The company quickly and strictly implemented epidemic prevention and control requirements, actively took various measures to mitigate the adverse effects of the epidemic, and continued to push forward the N966 project's completion work, providing sufficient guarantees for the steady progress and final delivery of the project.

It is understood that after completion of all test items, delivery is planned for the end of August, after which the vessel will go to the North Sea in the UK to serve the currently under-construction world's largest installed capacity offshore wind farm.

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