Sarens completes assembly of Carlzin 3MW floating wind turbine foundation in Norway

en.Wedoany.com Reported - Sarens has been tasked with the assembly and load-out of floating wind turbine foundations for the Culzean floating wind project, with the relevant operations carried out at the Wergeland Base in Gulen, Norway. Sarens stated that its engineering team, representing Wergeland Base and Archer Wind, was involved from the early engineering phase, responsible for determining lifting points, defining lifting methods, and supplying all required rigging, including the SarSpin device used to ensure all components remain level.

The Culzean project is a hybrid project led by TotalEnergies and currently developed by NEO NEXT, located in the UK North Sea, approximately 220 kilometers east of Aberdeen, Scotland. The project features a Vestas V112 floating wind turbine with an installed capacity of 3 megawatts, generating electricity to help decarbonize natural gas production at the Culzean offshore platform, meeting approximately 20% of the platform's total energy demand.

Sarens was designated for the heavy lifting operations due to its ability to provide one of the best single-crane solutions on the market — the LR12500 1.0 crane, also known as "Strong Steve." The crane was already at Wergeland Base, having recently completed a decommissioning project there, thus eliminating the need to deploy dozens of trucks to transport the crane to the project site, significantly reducing the logistics footprint, enhancing cost efficiency, and enabling the equipment to be immediately deployed for the project.

In this mission, Sarens was responsible for early engineering consultation, complete lifting method statements, rigging design and equipment supply, with a senior team executing the operations on site. Key lifted components included the structural outer column weighing approximately 150 tonnes, the central column weighing 160 tonnes, and the frame weighing 90 tonnes.

Willem Ditmer, Senior Project Manager at Sarens, stated: "The heavy lifting tasks executed in this project required high-precision slewing and creeping. By safely assembling and loading out this floating wind turbine foundation, Sarens directly provided clean, renewable energy to the Culzean gas production facility. We thank Wergeland Base and Archer Wind for their cooperation, which ensured that all work at Wergeland Base was completed safely and efficiently, strictly in accordance with the established schedule."

The Culzean gas production facility commenced operations in June 2019, with a design capacity of 15 million cubic meters of natural gas and condensate per day, capable of meeting approximately 5% of the UK's natural gas supply demand, making it strategically significant to the UK energy sector. Until the new wind turbine, scheduled to come online in the fourth quarter of 2026, becomes operational, the facility's energy needs are met by combusting a portion of the natural gas extracted on site, resulting in a significant environmental footprint.

Sarens has an established international track record in the offshore wind sector, having previously executed port logistics, assembly, and critical component handling operations at wind farms including Provence Grand Large (France's first floating pilot project), Fécamp, Saint-Nazaire, and Saint-Brieuc, as well as undertaking the management and specialist maintenance of Hywind Scotland floating wind turbines, accumulating technical capability in safely handling giant structures and foundations weighing up to 5,000 tonnes in demanding port environments.