The crane will be constructed, installed, commissioned and tested at the Huisman facility in Schiedam, the Netherlands.
The crane is custom-designed for the installation of offshore wind turbines. The crane has a low overall construction weight of 580t, a reduced minimum radius operating ability of 12.5m and minor tail swing.
MPI Resolution’s new crane will replace the existing 300t main crane onboard the vessel to prepare it for larger wind turbine component handling requirements for long-term vessel charterer Centrica Renewable Energy Ltd (CREL).
In the first quarter of 2011, the upgraded vessel is scheduled to be deployed for turbine installation operations on CREL’s forthcoming 270MW Lyncs wind farm project situated off the UK’s Lincolnshire coast.
MPI Resolution has a maximum payload of 8,950t and can carry 10 3.5MW turbines. This load was previously handled by two Kenz cranes: a 300t main crane used to place foundations (a hammer can be dropped from the crane to tap the monopiles into place), the transition pieces and the turbines themselves; and a 50t auxiliary crane that is used to handle other supplies.
