DEME beefs up its fleet with newest offshore installation vessel 'ORION'

DEME announced that the revolutionary offshore installation vessel ‘Orion’ officially joined its fleet April 30. The vessel's godmother was Mrs Amélie Michel, spouse of Mr Charles Michel, President of the European Council. During the traditional DEME naming ceremony, Mrs Michel wished ‘Orion’ and the crew a safe journey.

‘Orion’ is equipped with a powerful, 5,000-tonne crane and is designed to handle the enormous turbines and foundations of the future. With a total installed power of 44,180 kW and at 216.5 m long, the vessel has a large unobstructed deck and a deadweight that has been maximised so it can handle the heaviest components. A vessel like ‘Orion’ has never been seen before.

To enable the new installation vessel to handle the future generations of giant turbines and foundations, ‘Orion’ is also equipped with an integrated Motion Compensated Pile Gripper (MCPG), which has been designed by DEME’s and Huisman’s expert engineers. Coupled with the vessel’s DP3 capability, the MCPG allows the monopiles to remain vertical and stable during installation, despite motions of the ship and waves, and crucially, to be installed without the use of mooring anchors.

Combining these engineering technologies and ability to transport the new giant turbines, jackets and components in a single shipment, ‘Orion’ will speed up installation times dramatically, making the vessel an extremely cost-effective solution for wind farm developers.

Sustainability considerations are also a vital part of the vessel’s design. ‘Orion’ has dual fuel engines enabling it to run on LNG or alternative clean fuels, a Green Passport and Clean Design notation. Another environmental innovation is a waste heat recovery system that converts heat from the exhaust gases to electrical energy. The evaporation of LNG also cools the accommodation with a cold recovery system.

‘Orion’ will shortly set sail for its first project in Germany, where XL foundations will be installed at the Arcadis Ost 1 offshore wind farm. This will be followed by a decommissioning project in the UK. ‘Orion’ will also be deployed for the installation of 176 foundations at the Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind Farm in the US, one of the largest offshore wind developments in the world.