MPI Offshore and Centrica, long-term charterers of the wind turbine installation vessel “MPI Resolution”, have reached agreement to upgrade the main crane onboard the vessel. The upgrade works will see the installation of a 600-tonne-capacity crane, which will replace the existing 300-tonne crane. The new crane has been designed to make lifts of up to 600 tonnes and to a height of around 100 metres and will prepare “MPI Resolution” for the challenges of the next generation of offshore wind farm projects.
The new crane, a state-of-the-art, all-electric, pedestal-mounted crane is currently being constructed by the Dutch-based firm Huisman Equipment B.V., located in Schiedam. The upgrade works are scheduled for completion during the first quarter of 2011, following which the 600-tonne crane will “cuts its teeth” off the UK’s Lincolnshire coast during the installation of foundation components for the Lincs Wind Farm Project, a 270MW development, eight kilometres (five miles) off the Lincolnshire coastline, east of Skegness.
Paul Gibson, Chairman of MPI Offshore said, “The upgrade of Resolution’s main crane is part of the vessel’s evolution to meet the needs of the next decade of offshore wind farm construction. This upgrade, coupled with the arrival in the North Sea of our two new build installation vessels in 2011, will serve to maintain our position as first-choice installation solution for offshore wind throughout Europe and the rest of the world.”
The year 2011 will certainly be an auspicious one for MPI Offshore. “MPI Adventure”, the first of two state-of-the art wind turbine installation vessels, currently under construction at the Cosco Nantong Shipyard in China, will arrive in European waters in the first quarter of the year. The second vessel, “MPI Discovery”, will follow during the third quarter.