Safe lifting of the industry’s longest offshore blades

The Boom Lock© system by High Wind increases wind limits and accelerates installation processes of increasingly larger wind turbine components.

LM Wind Power and Adwen announced earlier this week the world’s longest blade, an 88.4-metre blade specifically designed for Adwen’s 8MW turbine. LM Wind Power’s CEO Marc de Jong called it an extraordinary example of industrialised innovation.

Innovation will not stand still, however. This latest impressive development is just another step on the clear path towards bigger turbines, which are seen as crucial to the industry meeting its LCoE goals.

Yet as technology innovation leads to larger blades and turbines, the greater the challenges of installation. There is an even greater need for safe installation practices with less wind sensitivity to the lifting process.

Fortunately, lifting solutions exist that will make it possible to install turbine components safely in higher wind speeds. One such solution is the Boom Lock©, developed by Belgium-based High Wind.

Mounted on the jack-up vessel’s crane, Boom Lock© is an intelligent guidance system designed to provide maximum control of the crane hook and the payload. It is already certified by ABS to lift turbine components at a 20m/s wind speed, and tests with a 6MW turbine blade proved its capability of lifting blades at 15m/s wind with gusts up to 20m/s.

The Boom Lock© is available for all turbine manufacturers, contractors and jack-up owners. It results in reduced costs for installation vessels, installation crews and related costs as well as increased income due to earlier production from the wind farm. It also provides safer working conditions during installation as uncontrolled movements in gusty wind conditions are dramatically reduced.

 

Press contact:

Ole Jacob Wang Nielsen, General Manager, High Wind
Telephone: +32 3 250 5312
Email: nielsen.jacob.ole@high-wind.eu
High Wind website: www.high-wind.eu
High Wind NV, Haven 1025 – Scheldedijk 30, B-2070 Zwijndrecht, Belgium

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