A2Sea up river on the Thames

An unusual sight greeted people in London late last year when Danish wind turbine erection specialist A2Sea sailed one of its two vessels up the River Thames under Tower Bridge and moored it alongside the historic Royal Navy warship HMS Belfast. The 135 m long 5000 tonne Ocean Ady has a 450 tonne capacity Demag CC 2500 lattice boom crane mounted on a side sponson, which gives 30 % more capacity than its usual crawler mounting, A2Sea logistics manager, Thorsten Jalk explained to IC. Rigged here with 60 m main boom and 12 m fixed fly jib the crane lifts 115 tonnes at 22 m radius. A2Sea has won the turbine installation contract for the Kentish Flats wind farm, at 90 MW, the largest offshore wind farm in the UK. Main contractor is NEG-Micon UK Ltd, a fully owned subsidiary of Vestas Northern Europe A/S. The wind farm will consist of 30 Vestas V90 3.0 MW turbines. The UK is expected to be the busiest market in Europe for wind turbine erection until at least 2010.