North American Windpower: Pile-Guiding Tool Aids In Installation Of Offshore Wind Turbine Foundations

in News Departments > Projects & Contracts

by NAW Staff on Monday 14 January 2013

IHC Handling Systems, part of IHC Merwede, has delivered a pile-guiding tool for the installation of 80 offshore wind turbine foundations.

The tool was designed and constructed by IHC Handling Systems and then installed on board Seajacks' new jack-up vessel, ZARATAN, last fall.

The pile-guiding tool is part of a package of handling and lifting equipment that was supplied by IHC Handling Systems. In addition to the pile-guiding tool, the complete order consists of an upending tool and accompanying hydraulic power packs. The equipment is being used on the Meerwind offshore wind farm in the German North Sea.

According to IHC, the monopiles are lifted and positioned by the equipment more efficiently than they were previously. The new pile-guiding tool has replaced the commonly used upending bucket and guiding and positioning tool by combining two operations - tilting and positioning - into one piece of equipment.

IHC Handling Systems’ new tool was produced in conjunction with several sister companies, including IHC Vremac Cylinders, which supplied the cylinders; IHC Winches, where the assembly and testing took place; and IHC Hydrohammer, which supplied the S-2000 hydraulic hammer for driving the monopiles.

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