Mammoet-Giant to provide heavy lifting for Taiwan's Changhua wind farms

Ørsted Taiwan has selected Mammoet-Giant to provide engineering and heavy lifting services for the 920MW Greater Changhua 2b and 4 offshore wind farms in Taiwan.

Mammoet-Giant, a joint venture between heavy lifting specialist Mammoet and Taiwanese Giant Heavy Machinery Services, will provide the marshalling and lifting activities for 66 suction bucket jackets.

Mammoet-Giant will deliver a turnkey service for the project, from initial planning to execution, ensuring the jackets get into the water faster. The company will also manage the complete quayside scope, reducing project risks and ensuring minimal disruption to port facilities.

To handle the quayside operations, Mammoet has selected its 5,000t capacity SK 350 ring crane.

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Operating from a single location, the SK350 will lift the 2,500t suction bucket jackets directly from deck carriers to the quayside and after temporary storage on site, onto deck carriers ferrying the jackets to the installation vessel in the field.

According to Mammoet-Giant, this methodology will eliminate the need for vessel repositioning during offloading and loading operations.

The crane’s design enables it to operate in the region’s high wind speeds, mitigating schedule risks and optimizing loading speeds, thereby reducing vessel turnaround times at the port to a minimum.

Chris Schraa, managing director of Mammoet Taiwan, stated: “Projects like these showcase the strength of our setup in Taiwan as well as the value of early engagement in engineering. This enables us to offer smarter and safer solutions, optimizing schedules and processes through direct communication with the developer.”

The 920MW grid capacity of Greater Changhua 2b and 4 was awarded in June 2018 in Taiwan’s first competitive price-based auction with no mandatory local content requirements. Ørsted then secured long-term revenues for the projects by signing a corporate power purchase agreement in July 2020 with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited.

The Greater Changhua 2b and 4 projects will be located 35-60 km off the coast of Changhua County, Taiwan at a water depth of 23.8m to 44.1m. The projects will use 14MW wind turbines and will be completed by the end of 2025.