In response to the emerging offshore wind power market, DNV is launching the world’s first class notation for offshore wind turbine installation units.

The market for wind turbine installation units is growing rapidly as the offshore wind industry picks up pace. The classification of these units is based on DNV’s Offshore Service Specification DNV OSS-101 ‘RULES FOR CLASSIFICATION OF OFFSHORE DRILLING AND SUPPORT UNITS’, which was originally developed for classifying drilling and production vessels used in the oil & gas industry.

Wind turbine installation units may be column-stabilised, self-elevating or ship-shaped units that are tailor made for the installation and maintenance of fixed and floating wind power equipment. They are designed to install the different equipment, such as foundations, columns, generator houses and blades, piece by piece by crane lifts or in one operation using lowering techniques.

“Compared to traditional oil and gas units, these vessels have a different set of safety and technical issues and are not normally designed for the hazards of the oil & gas industry, ie, exposure to extreme weather and hydrocarbons leading to a risk of fire and explosions. This, in addition to increased requests from the industry, has motivated us to launch the new class notation,” says Henning Carlsen, the business development manager in DNV’s Offshore Classification unit.

“DNV has been involved in the wind turbine installation unit market since 2003, when it classed the Mayflower installation vessel. Today, we are in the forefront with new projects in all the major home markets for offshore wind farms, and we expect a significant increase in the coming years as we see several new projects are in different stages of development,” he explains.

Tags: DNV