At the COSCO Shipping Shipyard in Nantong, China. Jan De Nul Group has launched the Voltaire, a next-generation offshore jack-up installation vessel for offshore renewables and decommissioning.
This vessel will be the second and largest jack-up vessel in Jan De Nul’s fleet and is due for delivery in H2 2022. Voltaire is built to transport, lift and install offshore wind turbines, transition pieces and foundations. The main crane with a capacity of over 3,000 tonnes will enable it to construct the current and future generation of wind farms at sea. Voltaire is ready for the future of offshore renewables, and will also be available to the oil and gas industry for the decommissioning of offshore structures.
The Voltaire is a jack-up vessel fitted with a high-tech jacking system. Four giant legs of 130 metres support the vessel to achieve stable working conditions at unsurpassed water depths up to 80 metres and with an elevated load of 16,000 tonnes. Compared to Jan De Nul’s other jack-up vessel Vole au vent, this new vessel has almost double the deck space.
Innovative design
The highly innovative main crane will be fitted with a Universal Quick Connector (UQC), developed by Huisman, and leveraging the expertise of Jan De Nul’s operational and engineering teams. The result is a innovative UQC, that will deliver a major step change in safer offshore lifting activities.
In common with Les Alizés, the Voltaire is equipped with a highly advanced dual exhaust filter system, removing up to 99% of nanoparticles from emissions using a diesel particulate filter (DPF) and reducing the NOx emissions and other pollutants by means of a selective catalytic reduction system (SCR) to levels in accordance with EU Stage V regulation. Together, these vessels will be the first two seaworthy installation vessels in the world with an extremely low carbon footprint.
