North East offshore supplier Osbit wins major contract in Taiwan

A Northumberland-headquartered offshore company has won a major new overseas contract with Malaysian energy services provider, Sapura Energy.

Offshore equipment supplier Osbit will supply an offshore wind turbine power gripper system, which will support the development of WPD’s Yunlin offshore wind farm — the first of its kind to be constructed in the rapidly developing Taiwanese market.

The system will be installed on Sapura Energy’s Heavy Lift vessel to facilitate the installation of 80 monopile foundations, each of which is 8 metres in diameter.

The Osbit-supplied pile gripper is designed for use on a moored floating vessel and will maintain the position and verticality of monopile foundations and be deployed and stowed using a deck rail skidding system.

To futureproof the system for the rapidly evolving offshore wind market, Osbit have made the design highly adaptable, and the pile gripper can be used with monopiles between 6.5 and 10 metres in diameter with push forces of up to 300 tonnes.

The pile gripper features many elements of the modular and configurable technology that has become Osbit’s signature, and the company will further optimise these features to suit Sapura Energy’s specific needs.

The system includes a market-leading control cabin design and an integrated Near Pile Noise Mitigation System, which reduces the subsea noise levels usually associated with piling activities.

Osbit has already supplied equipment for the Fukushima FORWARD and Binhai offshore wind farms in the past, but this new contract — the company’s first project for Sapura Energy — will expand the company’s existing footprint in the east Asian offshore wind market.

Brendon Hayward, managing director of Osbit, said: “We are delighted to add Sapura Energy to our client-base and to expand Osbit’s footprint in the emergent East Asian offshore wind market.

“We are now applying our offshore handling expertise and closely collaborating with Sapura Energy to deliver a high-quality solution On Spec, to Budget and In Time.”

The project is now underway at Osbit’s Northumberland headquarters and will be delivered to meet a 30-week lead-time.