Maersk completes mooring line installation for floating wind project

The anchor-handling supply ship Maersk Mariner, operated by Maersk Supply Service, has successfully undertaken mooring line installation at the pilot DemoSATH floating wind project in Spain.

Led by Saitec Offshore Technologies in collaboration with floating wind firm RWE, the 2-MW floating unit is currently under construction in Bilbao. It will be connected in 85m of water at the test field site almost 4km off the Biscay coast later this year.

SATH technology, pioneered by Saitec, consists of a platform that weathervanes to face the wind, thereby reducing environmental forces on mooring lines. A ‘plug and play’ connection system simplifies installation, the company claims.

Saitec’s chief of Engineering, Araceli Martinez, commented: “The installation of the SATH mooring lines worked perfectly. In the future, we will use them in all our commercial projects that are currently in the planning stage.”

Commenting on behalf of RWE, Chris Willow, head of Floating Wind Development, said: “It is great to see that the DemoSATH project has completed the next step of the offshore works, with the mooring system now in place – an important milestone on our way to the installation and commissioning of the floating turbine later this year. We, as RWE, see great potential for floating wind farms worldwide – especially to unlock opportunities in countries with deeper coastal waters.”