Huisman announced that developed a lightweight type crane for the maintenance of offshore wind turbines: the ‘Foldable Offshore Crane’. The crane combines lifting heights and capacity with a foldable boom, resulting in less deck space and a low own weight of the crane, so it will require a smaller, and thus more cost effective, jack-up vessel than currently required.
As the company explained, the ideal maintenance jack-up has a small deck, is cost-effective and quick to mobilize, has a limited lifting capacity (up to 500-600mt) and a lifting height of over 160m. The Huisman ‘Foldable Offshore Crane’ is well suited for these types of jack-ups as it is capable of exchanging WTG components to around 160m above deck level from a small jack-up (JU vessel length of +/-70 m).
The fact that the boom of the crane is foldable results in a very small footprint when in storage position. In addition, the folding mechanism leads to a much lighter crane compared to conventional cranes, which positively influences integration, and simplifies inspection and maintenance as the lifting hooks are safely stored inboard. By slightly tilting the knuckle, extra boom clearance is created. This simplifies lifting of large loads and reduces the required boom length to reach above the middle of a nacelle.
Furthermore, the crane can be retrofitted on existing jack-ups, which serves more hook height.
