News
02-29-2008
BARD group awards the offshore wind farm service ship contract
SWATH technology ensures maintenance teams are transported safely at sea
The BARD group has commissioned a special purpose vessel for the maintenance and supply of their offshore wind farms. The wind farm tender, about 26 meter long, is being built in the shipyard Abeking & Rasmussen, using the so called SWATH@A&R-Technology. The vessel is available for operation in 2010. SWATH stands for Small Waterplane Area Twin Hull and describes the special fuselage type, which is particularly resistant to heavy sea conditions. Two torpedo shaped floaters below the water surface carry the actual construction of the vessel on several columns, which, at a first glance, looks like a catamaran.
“With this, we will be able to transport our people to the wind farms and back to the living quarters on the transformer platform safely, even in rough sea conditions. Because safety is top priority.”
Transporting the operating personnel to the offshore structures is not easy because the sea is very turbulent. Which is why a special fender was installed on the bow that further dampens the already very slight movements of the vessel.
Abeking & Rasmussen in Lemwerder has built several vessels already using the SWATH@A&R-Technology. They are used, amongst others, as pilot cutters in the North Sea.
The BARD special purpose vessel is stationed directly on the wind farm, where a service team is on 24h-stand-by on a living platform in case of any maintenance and repair being required.
The BARD group will commence with the installation of the eighty 5 MW wind turbines “BARD VM” about 100 kilometres northwest of Borkum.
The preparations for constructing the wind farm “BARD Offshore 1” are, according to Heiko Roß, Managing Director of BARD Engineering GmbH, in planning: We have just commissioned the Norwegian company Oceanteam ASA to lay the connecting cables in the farm.
These works are due to commence spring 2009 too. The company “Norddeutsche Seekabelwerke GmbH” in Nordenham supplies the marine power cables. More than a total of 100 kilometres of cables are being laid to connect the wind turbines with the transformer platforms at the edge of the wind farm.
The contracting parties have agreed upon keeping the exact size of the order confidential.