Global heavy lift specialist Sarens has performed a range of lifts and load outs for the first pilot floating wind farm in France.
The floating wind farm is located off the coast of the Marseille region in Fos-sur-Mer and comprises of three 8.4-megawatt wind turbines from Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy.
Erected on to floating foundations designed and built by SBM offshore, the structures ended up being 45 metres high and were transported 17 kilometres off the coast. Installed out at sea, the structure holds a central buoy and two submersible buoys placed at either end acting as the support for the foundation’s anchorage system.
The project was completed in two different phases by the Sarens team; lifting the major components at Eiffage Métal’s fabrication yard followed by the weighing and load-out of three floating foundations onto the outgoing barge.
Phase One:
With the sub-components of the floating foundations being assembled at Eiffage Métals’ site in Fos-sur-Mer, Sarens was commissioned to lift the major parts of three floating foundations. Employing the use of a Liebherr LR1800 brought in from Cadiz, Spain, the team also required a Tadano CC2500 crawler crane and 20 axle-lines of SPMTs transported from Belgium.
In the ensuing assembly process, Sarens constructed three central buoys, three central columns, three transition pieces, 18 side buoys, nine side nodes, and a range of bracings.
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Phase Two:
After assembling the aforementioned, Sarens proceeded to weigh each of the three floating foundations before shifting them onto the outgoing barge. To complete the weighing, it used nine 500-tonne load cells, nine 500-tonne hydraulic jacks, three hydraulic power packs, and its own weighing interface.
For the load outs, Sarens engaged the services of K24ST SPMTs that were arranged in two trains, four maxi powerpacks compatible with the K24, two spare powerpacks, two six-axle SPMTs, and four 30-metre MB1500x1000 modular beams.
All up, the foundations weighed 2800-tonnes and were 45 metres tall and 70 metres wide each, and needed to be established on a semi-submersible barge.
Transported over a distance of 150 metres by the two SPMTs, the supervising and operational team worked in two shifts to eventually load the foundations onto the barge.
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