WindSpider crane lifts offshore wind energy to new heights

The wind industry is seeking new technologies to reduce costs and enable the use of larger wind turbines. With high activity in the global wind industry, together with increasingly taller and heavier wind turbines and corresponding bottlenecks in the supply chain, solutions such as WindSpider are needed to meet these challenges head on. This includes the ability to carry out repairs of floating turbines on site.

WindSpider is an innovative, cost-efficient lifting solution for the installation and major component replacement of offshore wind turbines. The self-erecting lifting technology is unique in the way it utilises the wind turbine tower as support for the crane structure, allowing onsite, offshore installation and repair of fixed and floating turbines. The solution is suitable for onshore wind turbines as well.

The WindSpider structure is erected around a wind turbine tower, starting from the base and gradually adding and elevating components while simultaneously installing tower sections and the nacelle. The blades are installed with a special tool that travels up and down the structure. When installation is complete, the WindSpider demobilises in the reverse order. Similarly, for maintenance, the WindSpider structure transports components up and down the tower.

WindSpider is scalable, modular and designed for easy transport. The solution can be scaled to a lifting capacity of over 1 500 metric tons with no lifting height restrictions, enabling it to service the coming generations of taller, heavier wind turbines, and it can be use

d in combination with vessels, barges and smaller jack-ups.

WindSpider solves some major challenges in the offshore wind industry. First, its unprecedented lifting capacity without height restrictions enables wind farms to use taller, heavier wind turbines for higher energy production.

In addition, the solution can install and repair wind turbines on site – at sea rather than in port. This greatly simplifies and shortens the process, reducing operational costs and ultimately the levelised cost of energy.

Moreover, the unique way in which the solution climbs the wind turbine tower eliminates relative motion between the crane and the wind turbine, resulting in improved HSE and operability, even at very windy sites. WindSpider is also highly compatible with existing smaller jack-ups and vessels that come at significantly lower rates than the newbuild technology scaled up to meet the industry’s increasing demands. All of these benefits result in more sustainable use of resources at lower day rates.

Strong growth is forecast for offshore wind installations, surpassing 520 GW by 2040. Currently under development, WindSpider aims for market entry in 2027.

Since 2022, the company has taken part in the FLOWTOM research project. Recently conducted wave tank trials of the lifts, together with digital modelling, will improve the reliability of an offshore maintenance solution for floating wind turbines

The company’s target customers are offshore and onshore wind developers, operators and vessel owners (e.g. WTIVs). Its key markets are the EU, Asia and the US.