Smarter and more efficient offshore operations

The new boat landing system combines safety, efficiency and ease of use to support smoother offshore operations. Designed with the crew and day-to-day operations in mind, the solution makes deploying the boat landing simpler and more efficient. KENC developed a semi-automated system that reduces the need for manual handling and allows the crew to operate the system safely and efficiently.

Robust engineering, simple operation

For the movement mechanism, KENC developed a mechanical solution using gearboxes and a compact electric motor. This allows the boat landing to be moved in a controlled and safe manner during deployment and securing. The system is designed to handle the forces generated during operation while keeping the operation simple for the crew. Throughout the design process, KENC worked closely with DNV to ensure that the relevant standards and requirements were applied to the specific solution. Reflecting on the project and the collaboration with Nexans and DNV, Daniël Falkmann, Lead Engineer at KENC, says:

“What makes this project unique is that we transformed a traditional, manual operation into a semi-automated solution that is simple and safe to operate. It was great to work together with Nexans and DNV to develop a solution that is both technically robust and practical to use.”

Crane-free operation

One of the key benefits of the new solution is that the boat landing can be deployed and secured independently by a single operator, without the need for the vessel’s crane or additional rigging. This makes deck operations more efficient and gives the crew more time and capacity to focus on other critical tasks.

The boat landing system has been successfully delivered and put into operation. With this solution, KENC has provided a practical and reliable improvement to the daily operations on board Nexans’ CLV Nexans Electra.

Het bericht KENC delivers semi-automated boat landing system for Nexans’ CLV Nexans Electra verscheen eerst op KENC.

Back in October 2018, Van Oord was contracted to execute offshore installation works for the West White Rose Project. Their challenge: develop a method to place rocks on the seabed with high precision, without slowing down installation operations. Van Oord deployed its flexible fallpipe vessels Nordnes and Stornes to carry out the work.

KENC’s role? Turning a theoretical concept into a fit-for-purpose engineering solution for precise rock placement. Michel Olimulder, formerly Lead Engineer on this assignment and now Commercial Manager at KENC, reflects:

“KENC and Van Oord partnered up to deliver an innovative, fit-for-purpose tool. We are grateful to have contributed to this major project.”

The West White Rose field is located at a water depth of 120 m. It is approximately 50 km from both the Terra Nova and Hibernia fields and 350 km off the east coast of Newfoundland, Canada. The West White Rose operative is expected to begin in the second quarter of 2026. 

Het bericht A subsea rock installation device which reduces installation time verscheen eerst op KENC.

In his new role, Michel will leverage his extensive expertise to ensure our clients receive the best solutions and guidance, making him the go-to person for all commercial inquiries at KENC.

Het bericht Michel Olimulder promoted to Commercial Manager verscheen eerst op KENC.

In September and October 2025, KENC will open its doors for the KENC Career Day.

During these days, job seekers will have the opportunity to experience what it means to be part of KENC and to explore the various aspects of our company.

From working on a challenging project to discovering 3D design and fabrication drawings, the Career Day showcases what it’s like to be part of KENC. It’s a fun and educational way to get a behind-the-scenes look at a technical company.

Interested? Get in touch with us!

Het bericht KENC opens its doors – Career Day 2025 verscheen eerst op KENC.

1. 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.

2. Increasing workability

Piling frames for these water depths need to handle longer and heavier piles and need to withstand stronger swell. Another crucial factor is the significant wave height. Recent projects show that a pre-piling template nowadays has to survive significant wave heights up to 3.5 meters.

3. Soil condition

With XXL monopiles, also pre-piling templates see new dimensions. The centre-to-centre distance of a piling frame can easily reach 45 meters. Covering so much ground – also taking into account that WTG’s need to be placed further apart from each other – chances are you meet a variety of soil conditions within one wind farm. For instance, in Taiwan, we see extreme conditions. From very rough and rocky ground to soft and muddy soil conditions. For the latter, you need to equip your piling template with large mud mats to avoid sinking into the bottom.

WORKABILITY SOFTWARE

Even though the pre-piling template has become a large structure, it is still crucial to make it heavy enough to keep it from turning over. KENC has developed a calculation tool to easily determine the required stability of the piling template for different project parameters. We are happy to share our tool and provide you with valuable insight for your upcoming project. Just give us a call or send us an e-mail!

Het bericht 3 criteria to keep in mind for your next pre-piling template verscheen eerst op KENC.

HEADING

A template cannot be installed on the seabed in a random position. It has to be installed under strict coordinates. Tugger lines are needed to bring the template in position or even other supporting equipment mounted on the template such as thrusters.

CTC DISTANCE

Chances are you also have to deal with various CtC distances including a strict tolerance. When the piles are stabbed into the template, heavy forces will occur with direct impact on the template. To avoid displacement and keep position, the template needs to be robust and rigid enough to withstand all the forces during the hammering procedure.

Ask us about our workability tool – To easily determine the required stability of your piling template for different project parameters.

PILE ANGLE & PILE TOP ELEVATION

Next to the hammering operations hydrodynamics will affect the template. The larger the deformation on the template, the more it will affect the pile angle. Also when the seabed slopes, the piles need to be hammered to different relative heights to compensate the slope and ensure the jacket stands up straight. The piling template and pockets need to be robust and narrow enough to keep the pile in the exact position. It also needs to be wide enough for the hydrohammer to install the piles with low stick up height. Retractable rollers inside the pockets can be useful to keep the pile on the exact location and in the right angle and still enable access for the hydrohammer inside the pocket.

Het bericht How to meet strict installation tolerances with a pre-piling template? verscheen eerst op KENC.

KENC Engineering is excited to announce multiple contract awards from a leading T&I Contractor. The contracts entail engineering scopes to outfit a purpose-built jack-up vessel to contribute with the safe and efficient installation of the monopiles for a UK offshore wind farm.

KENC’s scope of work includes the design and engineering of a hose reel platform that houses the HPU (hydraulic power unit), a hose saddle, a control cabin work frame and a gangway platform. The challenge was to come up with custom-made solutions that were light, stable and strong to fit the deck requirements of the jack-up vessel. KENC has achieved this by the close cooperation of our design and finite element analysis team to make the structure strong, light and safe.

“We’re proud to work with the contractor on these scopes. This collaboration allows us to leverage our experience of vessel outfitting and mobilization support for offshore wind installation projects.” said Eric Buining, Managing Director of KENC Engineering.

Engineering work is already well underway, with completion scheduled for the upcoming project in 2025.

Het bericht KENC awarded with multiple contracts for UK Offshore Wind Farm verscheen eerst op KENC.

KENC’s contribution
Van Oord was the main contractor brought in by operator Iberdrola. They would transport and install the jacket foundations for the wind turbines and piles for the offshore substation. KENC’s involvement was to support Van Oord in their scope of work. We provided engineering services and fabricated some of the installation equipment.

Van Oord’s Project Engineer Kris Franken reflects:
“Working with an external engineering company like KENC: Getting them to do the engineering on specific equipment, gives us a great deal of flexibility. When there’s a challenge in the design, they are one step ahead with a solution. This really speeds up the process. So, instead of us starting off with a blank sheet of paper, they have were already started getting their ideas ready.”

“Our first contact about Saint-Brieuc with Van Oord was towards the end of 2020,” says KENC’s Project Manager Cor Hilbrink. “From that moment onwards, we worked in an intensive cooperation with the Van Oord team to deliver the tailor-made engineering they required throughout the various phases of their T&I contract.”

The most eye-catching element of KENC’s scope is perhaps the design and engineering of a Casing Lift Adapter (CLA), a crucial lifting tool which comes into play during drilling operations. “The CLA ensured the precise positioning of the drilling tools – it had a ‘standard’ lifting capacity of 280 tonnes which was backed up by its contingency capacity of 1,100 tonnes,” Cor continues. “For this CLA scope, we were actually contracted by Breman Machinery, who in turn were contracted by Van Oord. As such, the CLA is a good demonstration of how different project stakeholders come together to pool their knowledge and expertise to produce an innovative installation tool.”

While the custom-made innovative lifting and handling tools commonly get most of the media attention during the installation of an offshore wind farm, the majority of a project scope often consists of less glamourous subjects. This is also true for KENC’s work for Van Oord on Saint-Brieuc. “There are so many phases in an offshore wind installation project, each involving multiple vessels and associated equipment. It is like one big jigsaw puzzle – everything has to be in the right place and at the right time,” Cor continues. “We provided the engineering for many of the pieces of the Saint-Brieuc puzzle, all of which had to be interfaced either with Van Oord’s installation vessel Aeolus or one of the other vessels involved.”

KENC’s seafastening scope on the Saint-Brieuc project was just as extensive. Several (support) vessels were mobilised at different stages to carry out the work as it progressed; from drilling of foundations, grouting, installation of casing and, finally, the installation of jackets. All these vessels transported mission-critical equipment – such as ROVs, pile-cleaning and grouting equipment to name a few – all of which required seafastening sufficient to deal with the maximum allowed significant wave heights that were permitted for the project.

Van Oord – and therefore, also KENC – completed its work on the Saint-Brieuc offshore wind farm in November 2023. When fully commissioned, Saint-Brieuc will be France’s second offshore wind farm, generating 496MW of electricity: a significant first step towards the country’s climate goals. “Working with KENC was very positive,” concludes Kris. “Their working and communication style is quick, flexible and efficient: due to the time pressure on this project, this was exactly what was needed. The style of working really fits our needs.”

Cor replies: “We are proud to have played our part in this successful project, supporting our client in a positive and productive way throughout, working together towards a fantastic end-result.”

Het bericht A closer look at KENC’s work for Van Oord on the Saint-Brieuc offshore wind farm project verscheen eerst op KENC.

Q1: Please introduce yourself and what you do.
My name is Harmen Punte, I am 24 years old and I am from Enschede. I study mechanical engineering at the University of Twente. Currently, I am in the final year of my master’s degree. At KENC I work on my graduation assignment for the university.

Q2: Can you introduce KENC to the readers?
KENC Engineering is an engineering firm located in Oldenzaal. KENC operates in the offshore energy market. The company focuses mostly on engineering and designing the tools, however, KENC also fabricates the tools used to build offshore wind farms.

Q3: Can you tell us about your work and how you came to work for KENC?
Currently, I am working here on my graduation assignment. My first introduction to KENC was when I met Vincent, KENC’s business development manager, on the business days hosted by the University of Twente. There I learned about KENC and what they do since I was unfamiliar with the company.

When I had to do an internship for my study I contacted Vincent again for an internship since KENC interested me ever since I learned about the company. The large and heavy structures, the magnitude of the engineering projects, and the sustainability aspects of the offshore wind industry spoke to me. I wanted to learn more about this industry and KENC’s location in Oldenzaal is ideal for getting acquainted with the industry while studying in the beautiful Twente! Sadly it did not work out for my internship, but luckily I could do my graduation assignment here.

Q4: Can you tell us a little bit about your graduation assignment?
KENC designs and builds so-called monopile upending and lifting tools. A monopile is a large tube that acts as a foundation for an offshore wind turbine. This huge foundation has a weight of 1600t and a length of 100+ meters. I am working on a system that is supposed to be used for designing monopile upending and lifting tools. The idea is that the system I create can be used to create a conceptual design easier and faster than the current design process.

Q5: What interests you about this kind of work?
First of all, I like big engineering projects; I do not like tiny projects. Second, I want to be involved from the start to the end of a project. To see the whole design process and progress from a concept to a finalized product is something that I find very interesting.

Q6: Where do you see yourself in the future in this field?
Well, I am still a student so my priority lies in graduating and getting experience in the field. I would also like to take on more and bigger challenges, for example, to oversee the whole project and to work on other things like hydraulics. I have the ambition to become a lead engineer.

Q7: Can you tell us something about the hardships of this kind of work?
|I think that one of the difficulties is that you have to understand what the problem is for the customer and find a way to solve it. How can we come up with a solution that is the best solution for all involved parties? Another difficulty is coming up with a solution that sets you apart from the competition. It can also be difficult to get every party to agree on a design. Because KENC also fabricates the products we have to oversee the whole process of drawing, engineering, fabricating, and delivering the tools.

Q8: What advice would you give to students who also want to do this kind of work?
Since engineering is so broad you should look for your niche. Once you find the niche you want to work in, specialize in it during your studies. You should also look for a company where you can apply for an internship or maybe even find a place where you can work.

Q9: Can you give us 3 reasons why you would recommend a student to apply for a job at KENC?
1. At KENC you can work on a variation of very interesting projects in the offshore wind industry and within a company specialized in designing and building large and heavy steel structures. If you like big steel structures while operating in a sustainability-driven industry, then you should apply at KENC because they combine both worlds.

2. KENC has a nice team of highly motivated and very capable engineers. There is a good team dynamic with a flat company structure. With KENC’s location in Oldenzaal, the “Twentse nuchterheid” and down-to-earth mentality can be recognized in the atmosphere within the company. In my opinion, this makes KENC a nice work environment.

3. The expected future growth of the offshore wind industry and KENC’s growth plans for the near future create a lot of opportunities and room for personal development.

Thank you for your participation in this interview, and for sharing your insights and experiences with us! They will surely provide the necessary information to students trying to choose for themselves. This concludes the interview with Harmen Punte, interviewed by Samuel Klein.

Do you also want to experience the offshore engineering world?
KENC is participating at the upcoming career fair of the Business Days Twente on the 14^th of February. Stop by for a chat and a coffee! Can’t wait? Just drop an e-mail or give us a call if you want to learn how we can kickstart your career in the world of offshore engineering.

Het bericht FROM CAREER FAIR TO GRADUATION verscheen eerst op KENC.

KENC’s scope includes the design and engineering of the seafastening for the OHVS substructures. The steel jackets, each weighing 3700 metric tons and standing approximately 33 meters tall. During transport, these jackets will be positioned vertically on a barge. The lower and upper grillage system, designed and engineered by KENC, will provide crucial support for the jackets during the transition.

Eric Buining, managing director of KENC Engineering, expressed enthusiasm “We are excited to be part of the this offshore wind farm project. We are proud to contribute in large-scale initiatives like this and we look forward to work on this project.”

The engineering work is scheduled for delivery in November 2024

Het bericht KENC awarded with jacket seafastening scope verscheen eerst op KENC.