Belgian offshore contractor Jan De Nul has launched its largest jackup vessel to date at the COSCO Shipping Shipyard in Nantong, China, said to be as large as the Eiffel Tower in Paris. Named Voltaire, the installation vessel for offshore renewables and oil and gas decommissioning is due for delivery in the second half of 2022.
Designed in-house Voltaire is built to transport, lift and install next-generation offshore wind turbines, transition pieces and foundations. The jackup features a main crane with a capacity of over 3,000 tonnes and sports four giant legs of 130 m that support the vessel to achieve stable working conditions at unsurpassed water depths of up to 80 m and with an elevated load of 16,000 tonnes.
Compared to Jan De Nul’s other jackup vessel, Vole Au Vent, this new vessel has almost double the deck space. In addition of being capable of loading the next generation of wind turbines and foundations, the larger deck space will also enable Jan De Nul to optimise installations at sea and to lower fuel consumption and emissions, the company explained, adding that the Voltaire will also be able to run on second-generation biodiesel that reduces the fuel carbon footprint by up to 90%.
Jan De Nul ordered the world’s tallest jackup installation vessel alongside the floating installation vessel Les Alizés in 2019. According to the company, the duo will be the first in the world with an extremely low carbon footprint equipped with a highly advanced dual exhaust filter system, removing up to 99% of nanoparticles from emissions using a diesel particulate filter (DPF) and reducing NOx emissions and other pollutants by means of a selective catalytic reduction system (SCR) to levels in accordance with EU Stage V regulation.
“With unrivalled lifting capacities of over 3,000 tonnes and 5,000 tonnes respectively, along with Jan De Nul’s existing subsea cable laying trio, these vessels will have the capability to install the complete requirements of next-generation offshore wind. Today, it is clearer than ever that Jan De Nul made the right decision by ordering the Voltaire and Les Alizés in 2019,” the company said in a statement.
“The Voltaire will enable us to work in deeper waters and reach ever higher nacelle heights than before. Adding Voltaire and Les Alizés to the fleet gives us the perfect set of vessels to execute the growing number of large and clustered international offshore wind projects,” added Philippe Hutse, director of the offshore division at Jan De Nul.
The vessel is set to mobilise to the UK for the construction of the 3.6 GW Dogger Bank offshore wind farm, the world’s largest offshore wind farm, transporting and installing a total of 277 GE Haliade-X turbines up to 14 MW.
