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With the upcoming Business Days Twente, we are looking back at one of the success stories of a previous edition. At the career fair we always meet many talented and driven engineering students. Here’s an interview with one of those students who after meeting at the event found a place at KENC. Harmen Punte was asked to share his experiences and opinions about KENC, the offshore engineering world, and he will also tell a little about his graduation assignment.Q1: Please introduce yourself and what you do.My name is Harmen Punte, I am 24 years old and I am from Enschede. ...

Bigger & Slender As monopiles increase in size, we can install larger wind turbines and generate more energy. To increase the size of the foundations and at the same time keep the weight of these foundations within reason, monopiles tend to become slender. This is a great achievement by monopile designers and fabricators. But what is needed on the equipment side to lift and handle these huge foundations? Impact on upending tools The design of a monopile upending tool is depending on the integrity of the monopile. A slender monopile demands more connection points from ...

With offshore wind farms moving to deeper water, and the WTG also increasing in size we see other foundations than the good old monopile. When using a jacket foundation a pre-piling template helps to speed up the installation process. However, this is only useful when the pre-piling template guarantees that the required installation tolerances are met. So the question is, how are you going to install a structure of approx. 1000t on the seabed under the exact angle and with millimetre precision. HEADING A template cannot be installed on the seabed in a random position. It has to be ...

When installing an offshore wind turbine in 50-80 meter water depth, using a jacket foundation is an obvious choice. To install the pin-piles for the jacket, a pre-piling template is an excellent structure to ensure precise installation. Moving to new areas with different circumstances brings along new operational challenges. A few examples: Deeper water In 2015 the average water depth of offshore wind farms was 27 meters. The current wind farms under construction see water depths of 40 up to 50 meters. Deeper water means longer piles, which has a direct impact on the equipment involved. Increasing workability Piling ...

Designing the most complex tool is never the issue. Design and build an innovative tool that increases workability, that is the challenge. Innovation is about being clever. Sometimes adding functionality and a higher level of automation to your tool is a clever way to increase workability. However, there are also situations in which innovation lies in a simplification of existing methods and equipment. SIMPLIFYING OPERATIONS In the last 20 years (yes, it is our anniversary year!), we have seen and delivered many different offshore tools. We have won the trust of our clients not only by making tools more ...

During offshore operations, crew changes are almost inevitable. Many offshore wind farm developers and oil and gas operators choose boat landing systems as the preferred way of crew transfer because of their high level of safety. If you want to integrate a new boat landing system into your vessel, you have to deal with many challenges. In this blog post, we share a few with you. Rules & Regulations When you look into the rules and regulations of a boat landing system, you easily can get lost. The guidelines differ depending on the project location or operator involved. Another ...