American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) has approved the coordinated design for a wind turbine installation vessel (WTIW) in conjunction with the innovative BargeRack feeder barge system by Friede and Goldman (F&G).

The design enables the Jones Act-compliant barge in a lifting system that F&G says reduces motion and increases the window of operational time. The design was reviewed in accordance with the ABS 2017 Guidance Notes on Review and Approval of Novel Concepts.

“To achieve the scale of U.S. offshore wind market by 2030, the industry will be reliant on the delivery of the variety of vessels that will be needed to install and maintain the turbines, while navigating various port constraints. ABS has been at the forefront of supporting this process, facilitating a succession of vessel developments that will prove critical to the future of this industry,” said Greg Lennon, ABS vice president, Global Offshore Wind.

Robert Clague, vice president of Engineering at F&G, added that the feeder solutions are inherently risky due to feeder vessel motions with the impact on equipment transfer. He further noted that the problem was solved by completely eliminating the feeder vessel motion, as well as reducing the feeder vessel cost by an order of magnitude compared to other feeder vessels.

Development of the BargeRack WTIV is the latest vessel designed specifically for U.S. offshore wind operations to be supported by ABS. A subsea rock installation vessel is to be built to ABS Class and Charybdis, the first Jones Act-compliant WTIV, is also now under construction to ABS Class. The first U.S.-flagged Jones Act offshore wind farm service operation vessel (SOV) ever ordered will be built to ABS Class. These vessels will join the first ABS-classed crew transfer vessel (CTV) in the U.S., Windserve Odyssey. ABS has also issued AIPs for a series of wind support vessels from various designers.