The jack up vessel “Innovation” makes a rare appearance for turbine installation as the vessel has been primarily used for installation of foundations.
Fécamp offshore wind farm in France is just about to commence its turbine installation phase, where the jack up vessel “Innovation” is at Cherbourg port ready for loadout of the SWT-7.0-154 turbines for the project. Not since Global Tech I has “Innovation” been involved in turbine installation as the vessel has mainly focused on fixed foundation installation, where the vessel has proven to be an efficient asset. As it is a jack up it is a versatile vessel able to do a variety of work within offshore wind, yet it is surprising that the vessel was chosen as this will be its first-time installing tower, nacelle and blades in a cycle.
The turbines will be installed on gravity-based foundations that were installed last year by Heerema’s vessel “Sleipnir”. When finished the project will consist of 71 turbines which are manufactured by Siemens Gamesa at its French facility that still delivers the 7MW model.
Image credit: DEME
