Industry Partners Unveil Next-Gen Floating Wind Installation Vessel Design

A consortium based in South West England, led by Morek Engineering, has unveiled its design concept for a new vessel class for the floating offshore wind (FLOW) market, having completed the first feasibility stage.

Consortium partners include naval architects Solis Marine Engineering, innovation specialists Tope Ocean, marine operations specialists First Marine Solutions and Celtic Sea Power.

The future FLOW Installation Vessel (FFIV) design incorporates low-carbon fuels providing fuel efficiency advantages, a hydrodynamically optimized hull and expanded mooring capacity.

These innovations translate into significant time and cost savings compared to current vessels in operation.

The FFIV concept focuses on a section of the floating wind installation process that is yet to be optimized.

It will work with any of the three main anchor types for floating wind turbines being considered by the industry: drag embedment anchors, which require installation by high bollard pull anchor handling vessels, suction piles and driven piles, which require large subsea cranes to install them into the seabed.

In each case, the FFIV meets the requirements of the next phase by installing the mooring lines onto the installed anchors, enabling quick connection to floating foundations towed to the offshore site.

The FFIV has been designed to maximize mooring line capacity whilst minimising running costs. The selection of azimuth thrusters and reduced resistance to station-keeping and dynamic positioning efficiency is partnered with the alternative fuel choice of methanol.

To maximize mooring line capacity, the FFIV has a large below-deck cable tank for synthetic mooring ropes as well as large chain lockers to hold the kilometers of chain expected for the floating wind industry.

The consortium is now advancing toward the next design stage. This will focus on the equipment for handling large quantities of synthetic ropes, weather-limit analyses, and regulatory and design challenges faced by methanol propulsion systems.

The target is to secure an Approval in Principle by a major ship classification society by December 2025.

 “We assembled a team with deep market insight and offshore expertise, then overlaid that with a clear vision for low-emission fuel systems.

“Our goal wasn’t simply to retrofit an existing design with greener propulsion, but to pinpoint where we could deliver the greatest carbon reductions in the construction of future floating wind farms. We expect this to be attractive to a wide range of stakeholders in the floating offshore wind industry,” said Bob Colclough of Morek Engineering.

The project is part of the Clean Maritime Demonstration Competition Round 4 (CMDC4), funded by the UK Department for Transport and delivered by Innovate UK, part of the Department’s UK Shipping Office for Reducing Emissions program, focused on developing the technology necessary to decarbonize the UK domestic maritime sector.