Ampelmann, a Dutch-based firm providing offshore access solutions, will soon be deploying a second gangway to support the construction of the Hywind Tampen floating wind farm in Norway.
The first gangway, an E1000 system, was fitted to OSCV Siem Barracuda in early December. Ampelmann said Monday that the second Ampelmann gangway would begin its operations on the wind farm within the next six months.
Maichel van Nauta Lemke, Ampelmann’s Business Developer for floating wind. ”We are delighted to be able to take part in the construction of the largest floating wind farm in the world and we would like to thank both Siem Offshore and our end client, Equinor, for the opportunity to contribute to this project.”
Ampelmann’s gangways have hexapods that allow the system to compensate for motions in all six degrees of freedom.
"Because floating wind turbines are situated in deep water, further offshore, rough sea conditions exacerbate the difficulties of accessing floaters from vessels. Floating wind farms, like Hywind Tampen, require motion-compensated systems that can provide consistent and reliable offshore access," Ampelmann explained.
According to the company, the E1000 system is Ampelmann’s access solution for conditions like those at Hywind Tampen.
"It is ideally suited for work in variable sea states and to compensate for the divergent motions of vessels and floating turbines. Able to withstand waves up to 4.5m Hs, the gangway can convert into a crane within minutes and has a lifting capacity of one tonne. Having already made more than 270 successful landings at the wind farm in the last three months, enabled more than 1,600 safe personnel transfers and transferred over 81,000kg of cargo, the system has the proven its capacity to work effectively on floating wind farms, even during the winter months," the company said.
Van Nauta Lemke says: "The coming years will see the explosive growth of the floating wind market in Europe, Asia, and the USA, and with this project we are gaining invaluable expertise in the field. We want to contribute our knowledge and experience as a global offshore access provider to this sector as it develops."
The 88MW Hywind Tampen floating wind farm in the Norwegian part of the North Sea will be the most powerful wind farm of the type once fully operational.
The first power was produced from the first turbine at Hywind Tampen on November 13. The power was delivered to the Gullfaks A platform in the North Sea. The wind farm will consist of 11 turbines in total.
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