One of the Carbon Trust’s Offshore Wind Accelerator (OWA) Access Competition winners Umoe Mandal has signed a contract to build their vessel – the Wave Craft.
The new concept is extremely fast, which opens up shorter weather windows for maintenance, and the air cushion provides good stability for transfers. This news means that four of the thirteen finalists are either in construction or built, the others being
Fjellstrand WindServer (vessel)
BMT Houlder TAS (transfer system)
Momac MOTS (transfer system)
The first UM Wave Craft will be delivered in January 2015.
The vessel concept is based on the Surface Effect Ship technology where up to 80% of the vessel weight is lifted by an air cushion. The new idea is to use the same air cushion to reduce wave induced motion when accessing an offshore wind turbine. This allows transfer of personnel and cargo in larger waves than possible with current solutions. The technology also offers unique high vessel speed of over 40kn, where the air cushion damps motions, providing a very smooth ride. This improves overall efficiency of turbine maintenance.
[mappress]
Carbontrust, October 22, 2013