Pacific Orca – Wind Farm Installation Vessel

Built to cater to a newer generation of technological ideology, the Pacific Orca – a wind farm installation vessel is under the ownership of the Swire Pacific Offshore conglomerate, though operated by one of its ancillary maritime companies.

Launched a couple of years ago and put into operation a few months ago, the WIV (Wind-farm Installation Vessel) has, in the shortest time-period possible, gained immense reputation not only as the hugest vessel in its cadre, but also as one of the finest.

Pacific Orca enables to meet and fulfil the mounting demand of installing of wind energy facilities. The transference of such wind energy facilities from land-based systems to the high seas has gained immense popularity on account of the potentiality of the enormity of power and electricity generated from such facilities located in the high seas.

Over the years, it’s expected that high seas areas would become hive for such wind energy facilities thus making the designing and construction of WIVs exceedingly viable and indispensable.

• Orca measures over 160 metres lengthwise and almost 50 metres breadth wise, with a height of slightly over 10 metres

• The WIV ship is capable of installing the required rotary engine units to exceptional depths of 60 metres

• The six jacking pegs to aid the installing process measure over 100 metres each with a sub-hull extension capacitance of around 80 metres

• The WIV can carry out installing activities relatively undisturbed by tidal movements to up to  heights of almost three metres and air currents to around 20 metres per second

Built by the South Korean shipbuilding conglomerate Samsung, the Pacific Orca is operated in the German waters of the North Sea. Orca has totally revolutionised the concept opening-up of such WIV ships, thus paving the way for many more such highly thought-out vessel engineering manifestations.

The vessel’s incredibly viable functionality has further acted as a catalyst to come up with many more such WIV marvels.

References: marinelog, gulfoilandgas, eai