Unique Grillage Design for Offshore Wind Farm

Conbit has developed a unique grillage design as part of a collaborative scope for an offshore wind farm project in the U.K. and one of the biggest in the world.

Conbit said it is providing the specialist offshore engineering for parent company ALE, who has been contracted to provide the marine transportation, sea-fastening, load-out and ballasting of over 100 TPs for Ørsted’s Hornsea Project One in the North Sea, set to be the biggest wind farm in the world.

For the structural engineering, Conbit used its internal structural engineering expertise to conduct the structural integrity and sea fastening calculations of the grillages on the barge deck.

Once on the SARAH S barge, ALE’s latest marine investment, the TPs will be transported on the River Tees to the discharge berth. Conbit also provided the engineering for cost-effective storage and SPMT stability during the ALE transport operations at the yard.

For the storage at the quay, Conbit designed monopile cradles. These were specifically optimized to reduce costs, as the need for welding works is reduced.

As ensuring stability during the SPMT move was challenging, Conbit provided the engineering to enhance the hydraulic stability during the monopile positioning in relation to the sling configuration used for loading onto the SPMTs and positioning within the support cradles.

Bart Steerneman, Engineering Manager for Conbit, said, “Using our in-house expertise, we could provide a cost-effective and safer solution for ALE to perform the heavy transport operations. This project shows the strength of the ALE – Conbit collaboration, as we are now able to provide clients with the complete service package, from transport to engineering and stress checks.”

So far, ALE has loaded-out the first five TPs and completed the first discharge onto the installation vessel.