Page 45: of Offshore Engineer Magazine (Jul/Aug 2023)

44 46

he vessel's owner REM Offshore is a Norwe- Where it all Started gian company, for years, best known for its ves- In 2023 Seaonics won awards for its fully electric and sels providing support in the oil and gas sector. motion-compensated crane, and at the industry confer-

T

However, the company has, in the past few years, ence where the award was presented, it was there that been expanding into the offshore wind sector. Rem's Ronny Pål Kvalsvik saw the crane concept and

A testament to these new efforts is the delivery of the started thinking about ordering one.

REM Power, which Ronny Pål Kvalsvik, Rem Offshore's He says “[Seaonics] presented a crane, and I [thought],

Chief Commercial Offcer, says this is “a game changer” this looks interesting. Where can we utilize this technol- for the SOV market due to the combination of equipment ogy? How could we do it? And then we started discussing and technology onboard. it between us. We have a need. We want to have this capac-

Delivered in May 2023, the 85-m long vessel, equipped ity. We want to have it electrical.” with a diesel-electric and battery hybrid propulsion sys- tem, was completed in Vard Soviknes, in Norway. Capacity

It is the world's frst vessel of the type to be equipped with And then, Kvalsvik says, the ball started rolling, the

Kongsberg Rim-driven azimuth propellers as main propul- company ordered the vessel and realized they needed a sion, and it is also equipped with a system that measures the higher-capacity crane.

vessel’s environmental impacts throughout each stage of the “We needed at least a fve-ton. Of course, I had to ask lifecycle, from raw materials extraction to disposal. for seven. We need to have harbor lifts that were high- er than any cranes had, also, 3D cranes. So this was the

Te Crane background. We needed to have something that was a bit

But, as mentioned, for Offshore Engineer's Deck Ma- higher than what we saw in the market, and we challenged chinery and Cranes section, REM Power's innovative all- Seaonics to come up with a solution for,” electric, 5-ton, 25-meter, heave compensated crate, devel- Seaonic's Fure said. “We had a [crane] concept, but to- oped in collaboration with Seaonics, is arguably the most gether with the REM, we actually made it better.

exciting bit. “And, of course, the crane got the higher SWL [Safe

At the launch, the company said that Rem Power would Working Load]. We started with two tons, then it got three be the world's frst vessel to be equipped with VARD tons, then we got fve tons, now we got seven tons, and we daughter SEAONICS’ Electric Controlled Motion Com- got 15 tons in harbor mode.” pensated (ECMC) crane, securing effcient handling op- erations for a sustainable future. Walk to Work “This system allows to always keep the load close to the As for the Rem Power, which offers accommodation for crane tip from the deck level to the TP platform. The new up to 120 persons, including 93 windfarm technicians and and innovative crane ensures quick and safe cargo trans- a crew of up to 27, at the time of speaking with Kvalsvik fer,” the company said. and Fure, the vessel was working for ASSO Subsea sup-

Seaonic’s sales manager Ståle Fure says the crane is fully 3D porting a Vattenfall wind farm construction, providing compensated, fully electric, and has a completely new design. welfare and transfer services to personnel.

“It's on an old principle in a new design, with a tele- For easier transfer of personnel to and from the vessel scopic and wire luffng for the luffng boom,” he says. and the Rem Power is equipped with a special W2W

He also talks about the benefts of going fully electric: system (walk to work). The Uptime 30m AMC logistic “When you go electric, you get a very good response for system is said to consist of the world's first autono- your access, where you're going to do the compensation mous gangway with artificial intelligence, combined for. And this is actually one of the biggest advantages of the with an integrated elevator tower for personnel and electrical solution, that you can get a very accurate motion cargo logistics.

compensating, and of course, also, to regenerate back pow- It is capable of auto-landing, slip-off detection, integrat- er to the grid on the vessel, the AC grid or the DC grid, de- ed crane function for cargo handling, integrated transfer- pends. And, of course, there is no oil in this system at all.” lines, and stepless access for personnel and cargo.

july/august 2023 OFFSHORE ENGINEER 45