Thanks to its long coastline and ideal wind conditions, Scotland is a hotspot for the offshore wind industry. The Moray West offshore wind farm is located in the outer Moray Firth off Inverness. In order to lift materials and tools from the Crew Transfer Vessel (CTV) onto the Transition Piece (TP) of the wind turbines, PALFINGER will deliver 60 of its redesigned PF120-4 fixed boom cranes to the Moray West offshore wind farm. The cranes are scheduled to be delivered in 2023 in cooperation with Outreach Offshore, the leading distributor of PALFINGER MARINE products in the UK.

In addition to the 60 fixed boom cranes, PALFINGER will supply a PTM12000 jetty crane for Buckie Harbour. The commercial port has been selected as the long-term Operations & Maintenance (O&M) base and will be used to support the construction phase of the Moray West offshore wind farm and beyond.

The large-scale project is being developed by Ocean Winds, a 50-50 joint venture formed by EDP Renewables and ENGIE. It will consist of 60 wind turbines, each with a generating capacity of 14.7 megawatts. Once operational, the Scottish wind farm is expected to meet the power requirements of about 650,000 households in Scotland for the next 25 years and thereby contribute to the county’s targets of achieving net zero emissions by 2045. “We are proud that the launch of our renewed range of fixed boom cranes allows us to offer our customers and partners even better performance in their daily business and that the redesigned solution is well received by them. What is more, the delivery marks the start of a promising partnership between PALFINGER MARINE and Ocean Winds”, says Gunther Fleck, Vice President Sales & Service Region Marine at PALFINGER.

Improved lifting power put to the test
PALFINGER’s new range of fixed boom cranes, presented at this year’s WindEnergy in Hamburg, complies with the latest safety requirements of the global offshore wind industry. It has been designed in accordance with the latest technical requirements of the European standard EN13852-3 for light offshore cranes and features both UKCA and CE marks. The fixed boom cranes play an important role in lifting spare parts and equipment in the daily offshore wind industry supply chain. The crane range comes prepared for load handling operations with a Safe Working Load of 1,000 kg at 3,0 to 7,0 meter outreach in single line operation and up to 3,000 kg at 2,9 to 6,9 meter outreach in double line operation.