Heavy lift semi-submersible ships utilization in offshore wind turbines industry

Abstract

Many technologies and initiatives have been developed across the world to produce power from renewable resources. One of these technologies is offshore wind power that utilize wind turbines established in water to generate electricity. Offshore wind power generates more electricity per unit of capacity installed due to offshore wind velocity is higher than on land. Wind turbines are difficult to transport because of their huge towers and nacelles, as well as their long, delicate blades, hub, and generator. In order to transport these huge parts specialized ships to handle it and help in its transportation safely with the minimum costs and hazards are needed. Semi-submersible heavy-lift ships are primarily designed to transport extremely large and heavy cargoes, which are loaded using the float-on/float-off method, and large non-floating equipment. A high-capacity ballast system is installed on the heavy lift ships. When loading and unloading cargo, a ballast system is needed to manage heeling and trimming moments. Several accidents have occurred during the submerging process, these accidents result was sinking of many ships. Results are presented and discussed.