Huadian bags 20MW offshore wind superinstaller vessel for booming Chinese waters
Contracting giant charters first 3060 WTIV design for up to six years as nation's sector gather momentum
Power construction giant Huadian Heavy Industries has sealed an agreement to deploy one of China's largest newbuild offshore wind installation vessels that can handle turbines of up to 20MW.
Huadian will charter the 3060 WTIV design vessel for three years from the end of September 2023, with an option for another three years, under a deal with shipowner Boqiang Heavy Industry that reflects expected booming demand in the Chinese offshore wind sector as it passes the UK to become the world's largest by installed capacity.
The 3060 WTIV is intended to offer solutions for offshore wind farm installations under rough sea conditions, according to Chinese yard CIMC Raffles, which is building the vessel for Boqiang Heavy.
The vessel, with a dynamic positioning 2 (DP2) system, is designed to work in water depths of 65 metres or more.
This vessel will be equipped with a giant crane to be supplied by Husiman that will have lifting capacity of 2,200 tonnes and a rack and pinion jacking system that will enable the vessel to operate in wave heights of 2.5 metres.
The deck space will be able to accommodate four sets of 12MW turbines or eight sets of 8MWs, with the option to handle even larger machines as they hit the market later in the decade.
CIMC Raffles, which has already finished basic design of the 1.2bn yuan ($184.8m) vessel, is expected to cut the first steel in April this year.
Under a deal signed between Boqiang Heavy Industry and Chinese yard CIMC Raffles in April last year, the vessel is currently scheduled for delivery towards the end of the third quarter of 2023.
Boqiang Heavy is making huge investments to boost is offshore wind contracting capacity to cater to the requirement to providing services in deep-water areas, according to company chairman Chen Chunping.
The charter of the 3060 WTIV vessel is part of the Green Industry Partners initiative launched by CIMC Raffles, Boqiang and Huadian aimed at helping China achieve its emissions reduction targets.
The initiative calls for joint efforts to provide integrated solutions to cut offshore wind farm operation and maintenance costs through innovation.
The partners are also looking at what they describe as the comprehensive development of offshore projects such as hydrogen produced from offshore wind projects, fishing-related facilities, sea water desalination and photovoltaics.