The construction of Jan De Nul's new offshore crane vessel named Lez Alizés kicked off with a steel cutting ceremony last Friday at the China Merchants Heavy Industry (Jiangsu) Co., Ltd. in China.
Les Alizés, ordered in November 2019, will mainly be used for the construction of offshore wind farms, but will also be suitable for decommissioning offshore oil and gas platforms.
According to the owner, the Les Alizés will be able to load out, transport, and install multiple units of the largest and heaviest wind turbine foundations.
In addition, as a crane vessel that floats, it will be able to install heavier and larger foundations into deeper waters and in more challenging seabed conditions, Jan De Nul said.
Les Alizés is specifically designed for loading, transporting, lifting and installing offshore wind turbine foundations. The main features are the main crane of 5,000 tons, a deck loading capacity of 61,000 tons, and a deck space of 9,300 m².
Unlike Jan De Nul’s other offshore installation vessel under construction Voltaire, Les Alizés does not have four legs to lift itself above the sea surface.
It is a crane vessel for floating installation, which means that the vessel is not dependent on the water depths and the seabed conditions. Les Alizés will be equipped with a DP2 system.
The crane vessel will be fitted with an Energy Storage System (ESS), forming a hybrid setup together with the main diesel engines. This ESS will compensate power peaks on the main engines and recover energy from the heavy-lift crane, resulting in optimized engine operation and less fuel consumption and emissions.