Two Dutch firms have secured major deals to provide services to the U.S. offshore wind sector.
Offshore crew transfer equipment specialist Ampelmann has signed a pair of contracts in the sector that will run through 2025, while heavy lift and transport services firm Mammoet has inked contracts with two undisclosed clients that began work on large U.S. offshore wind projects earlier this year.
The Ampelmann contracts set for 2023 have been secured for work on two new offshore wind farms being built off New England’s coast.
“In the coming year, Ampelmann’s motion compensated gangways will assist with the hook-up, cabling and commissioning of turbines on the Vineyard and Southfork wind farms, two of the first commercial offshore wind farms in the USA that will provide clean energy to the region,” the company said in a statement.
The first project is the Vineyard 1 wind farm – the country’s first utility-scale offshore wind energy operation – located about 13 nautical miles south of Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket, Massachusetts.
When completed, the wind farm will consist of an array of 62 General Electric Haliade-X wind turbines, each capable of generating 13 megawatts of electricity. The 800 megawatts of electricity they generate will be collected by an offshore substation prior to being transmitted to shore.
The second project is at the Southfork wind farm on the outer continental shelf near Rhode Island, some 35 miles east of Montauk Point. Slated to go online later this year, the project is New York’s first offshore wind farm and will have 12 turbines and a state-of-the-art transmission system that will generate enough clean energy to power 70,000 average homes and offset tons of emissions annually.
Both projects will involve the use of Ampelmann’s E1000 and A300 cargo/personnel transfer systems. The E1000 is based on the company’s E-type technology, and with a lifting capacity of more than 2,200 lbs., can convert from personnel to cargo transport mode within minutes. Its A300 system is capable of converting from crane to gangway mode in 30 seconds and can carry up to 600-plus lbs. of cargo.
In addition to providing its transfer systems, the contracts call for Ampelmann to provide 24/7, year-round support through its Operations Control Center and its Ampelmann Insights digital platform. The company will also provide workability forecasts and project management tools “to further improve the workability and efficiency of offshore operations,” the company said.
Heavy lift specialist Mammoet’s contracts call for the company to deliver a broad range of services including the load-in/load-out, handling, and temporary storage of extra-large monopiles, as well as the pre-assembly of turbines at a U.S. marshaling port.
“Mammoet colleagues have been executing these projects globally for some time, so this is an exciting opportunity to leverage the combination of our technical experience with our local market experience,” said Rick Bohne, Jr., Director of Sales & Marketing for Mammoet in the USA & Mexico.
The company added in a statement that its “vast experience in offshore wind, presence in the U.S.A., and long track record in supplying specialized equipment as well as tailor-made solutions have proven decisive to confirm these awards. With more than 30 years of experience working in the United States, these will further strengthen our experience in the U.S. Offshore Wind Market.”
Mammoet’s recent experience in the offshore wind sector includes providing similar services for the Seagreen Offshore Wind Farm – located about 30 miles off the coast of Angus, Scotland – and it is the world’s deepest fixed-bottom wind farm. The company provides a similar slate of services, as well as component handling, storage, transport and crane lifting to assemble Hywind Tampen – the world’s largest floating wind farm.
Mammoet has also recently contracted to supply onshore heavy lifting and transport for the staging and assembly of turbine components for the Dogger Bank Wind Farm in the United Kingdom, and is also providing onshore heavy lifting and transport for the offloading, staging and installation of turbine components for an offshore project in France.
Late last year, Mammoet, enhanced the scope of its partnership with New York-based specialized transportation and construction equipment provider, Bay Crane Services, to expand their 25-year professional relationship in serving the U.S. offshore wind sector.