Monopile Handling

Innovations help offshore wind farm in the Baltic Sea

As wind farms become more globalized and suitable sites are being taken up, so turbines are being built further out to sea. The impact of this is that their foundations’ diameters and heights are increasing to stand up to, and harness, the full force of stronger winds, according to a June 25 press release from Dutch heavy lifting company Mammoet, which just used such data to aid in construction of a Baltic Sea offshore wind farm.

"Their weights and sizes are also therefore ever increasing, so the capacity of the equipment used for lifting, transport and installation must grow with them," Mammoet said in the press release.

Over recent years, Mammoet’s innovations team have been hard at work developing new solutions to deal with the complexities this creates.

Mammoet’s XXL monopile transport system, which debuted in 2024, allows the world’s largest and heaviest monopiles to be marshalled, stored and transported safely - even as they grow at unprecedented rates.

The new MTC 1600 - on site for the first time - is a terminal crane with 1,600 ton lift capacity. It works in tandem with another unit to lift XXL monopiles safely and efficiently, creating a production line environment.

Both innovations demonstrated their advantages when Mammoet supported Van Oord to marshal over 70 monopiles for Baltic Power offshore wind farm, which will deliver 4TWh of electricity annually – enough to cover 3% of Poland’s national demand.