The offshore renewables sector is about to meet a new contender in the rapidly expanding market for offshore wind. With Harren & Partner’s addition of the versatile jack-up vessel Wind Lift I to its fleet, SAL Renewables launches as a specialised provider for offshore wind services and installation with a strong asset in its portfolio. Born as a sister company to the renowned heavy lift shipping company SAL Heavy Lift, this new specialised entity focuses on the offshore maintenance and installation of wind turbines and their corresponding components.
The Harren & Partner Group is as busy as ever with its work in the global wind energy sector. Already an established and preferred logistics provider to contractors and turbine manufacturers in the offshore wind sector, SAL is taking another significant step in expanding its footprint in the field of renewables. Today, SAL Renewables opens its doors as a supplier of specialised vessels as well as maintenance and installation solutions to the offshore wind industry.
SAL Renewables proudly launches with a specialised vessel in its fleet: the Wind Lift I – a 2010-built dynamic positioning (DP) jack-up crane vessel ideally suited for offshore wind maintenance projects as well as the installation of wind turbine parts. With a 500 t capacity, high outreach offshore crane and a fully equipped accommodation block for up to 50 people, this highly versatile asset also has a strong track record.
“Wind Lift I represents an important enhancement of our fleet. It extends our scope of action to provide our customers with comprehensive, yet customised solutions,” says Heiko Felderhoff, Managing Director of SAL Renewables. “Wind Lift I is a highly adaptable vessel. There are only few things that it can’t do, it’s kind of like a Swiss army knife. This asset makes for a great start for our new venture with SAL Renewables.”
Matthieu Moerman, Head of Projects at SAL Renewables, adds: “Megawatts capacity of wind parks keep increasing and old wind parks will need to be renewed with new turbines or decommissioned. With Wind Lift I we are not only targeting the installation and maintenance market but also decommissioning and upgrading of old existing wind parks.”
The Wind Lift I was recently deployed by SAL for a hydraulic hammer test as part of an offshore wind project in the North Sea. Despite for the season’s unpredictable weather patterns, the vessel managed the job perfectly.
In addition to Wind Lift I, SAL Renewables also holds access to the offshore DP2 heavy lift ship Blue Giant.
SAL Renewables benefits from the years of wind experience in the group and employs specialists with extensive expertise in the sector. SAL Renewables is not involved in any traditional heavy lift shipping operations, which are performed by SAL Heavy Lift as the transport and logistics arm. As such, SAL Renewables is a perfect complement to SAL’s existing services – providing comprehensive, complete maritime solution for the offshore wind industry.
Dr. Martin Harren, Managing Director of Harren & Partner, explains the strategy behind the founding of SAL Renewables and the acquisition of Wind Lift I: “Wind power has been a cornerstone of our business in the past few years, and we continue to see significant projects here. The world’s demand for energy is higher than ever before, and a major energy transition is currently underway. The projects resulting from this change are crucial to our business. SAL Renewables is a perfect supplement to our established logistics business, but also something new. By offering maintenance and component installation services predominantly for the wind turbines themselves, we are expanding our total service offerings to the global renewables market while also meeting the toughest individual demands and expectations in the offshore markets.”
SAL Renewables is based in Bremen – a convenient location to leverage the diverse and far-ranging resources within the Harren & Partner Group and SAL Heavy Lift.