Temporary Works Design (TWD) completed the design and assisted in the fabrication of a monopile gripper frame for Van Oord. The gripper is designed to keep the monopiles in the correct position and inclination, while counteracting the wave, wind, and current loads on the pile during wind turbine installations.
The installation of the monopile gripper frame on Van Oord’s new jack-up vessel Aeolus took place yesterday. The vessel arrived Wednesday morning in Ijmuiden where the gripper, measuring 20 x 10.5 x 21 meters and weighting 450 mT, was placed and seafastened on the deck.
The vessel’s first project will be the construction of the Luchterduinen Offshore Wind Farm, one of the first projects to feature the monopile and the transition piece built as a single component. The gripper will be responsible for the placement of 43 wind turbines with a capacity of 3 Megawatts each, generating green electricity for more than 150.000 households. Luchterduinen will be operational after the summer of 2015.