To Osterild

COORDINADORA and OCTRA successfully performed the transport of a testing offshore wind turbine. The wind generator itself was one of the newest and heaviest models available in the market, with a power production of 6 MW. The turbine is composed by three tower sections of 30 m long each one, a 420 Mt nacelle and a set of three blades with a unitary length of 74 m.

The tower sections were shipped from Avilés port (Spain), where manufacturing facilities are located, sailing afterwards to an intermediate port, Montoir (France), where the Nacelle was added to the shipment. The performing Heavy Lift Vessel sailed out to Denmark, with final destination Hanstholm, the closest port facilities to Osterild where it is stablished the onshore testing plant.

The operation involved both marine & land transport movements up to final destination. Furthermore, it had the additional complexity of having to transport the bottom tower section (230 Mt, CoG at 12 m height) in upright position. This was a client´s requirement, so the transformers and auxiliary equipment had to be assembled in advance, avoiding spending time and resources on site.

 

 

The tower bottom section was secured aboard on upright position by means of a sea-fastening design carried out by our Offshore & Modular Division. Designing consists on welded high tensile steel clips, calculated using FEM software to withstand the stresses generates during the ocean going.

The other two tower sections had 105 Mt unitary weights. These sections were transported in horizontal position, supported by transport saddles. Another challenging phase was the loading of the approximately 420 Mt nacelle at Montoir, just the operational lifting capacity per vessel´s crane. The unit was carried from factory up to port using a 14 x 3 SPT vehicle.

The special lifting tool supplied by the client, designed for single lifting manoeuvres, was the key factor for the lifting operations execution using only one of the vessel´s cranes. This could be done thanks to a close coordination with all involved parties, leaded by COORDINADORA and OCTRA in-house engineers who atteneded all field operations. Once arrived and uploaded at the Danish port, cargo was transported to site by means of different hydraulic vehicles, including SPMTs.