MT Højgaard, the company who have deployed most offshore wind foundations globally, have teamed up with foundation specialists Seatower to offer “cranefree” gravity foundations. The new foundations have been developed specifically for the deeper waters and bigger turbines that will soon become prevalent in European offshore wind projects.
The Cranefree foundations come out of a €3 million R&D project undertaken by Norwegian Seatower. A wide range of knowhow and technology from offshore oil & gas was applied to the challenges facing offshore wind. The result is a foundation that is a hybrid concrete/steel structure, which lends itself to efficient mass production and is installed without use of expensive lifting vessels.
“As the market leader for offshore wind foundations, we have supplied and installed more monopiles than anyone else,” says Kim Reinhard Andersen, Director of Offshore at MT Højgaard . “Upcoming projects are in deeper waters and have bigger turbines, so new foundation technologies are needed. We believe that Seatower’s Cranefree gravity foundations will be crucial to the success of many of the offshore wind farms that are now on the drawing board.”
According to the newly signed agreement between the two companies, MT Højgaard will offer the Cranefree foundations in the European market. Seatower will provide concept design, as well as key engineering and operational services during the project execution. The partners will also cooperate on marketing, as well as on R&D to stay at the technology forefront of the industry.
“With their practical knowledge of offshore wind projects, MT Højgaard immediately understood the benefits of our technology,” says Petter Karal, CEO of Seatower. “We believe that MT Højgaard’s experience, expertise and financial strength will make it even more attractive for projects to consider and chose Cranefree foundations.”.
MT Højgaard and Seatower are now looking for opportunities to do a demonstration deployment of a small number of full-scale foundations.
MT Højgaard is a Danish company and one of Northern Europe’s leading building and civil engineering companies. The group is the market leader in offshore wind foundations, with more than 630 foundations installed and underway. MT Højgaard is headquartered in Denmark, has 5,000 employees and an annual turnover of approx.EUR 1,200 million
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Offshore WIND staff, November 22, 2011; Image: seatower