PALFINGER handles the challenges of the Taiwan Strait
The Greater Changhua 1 & 2a Offshore Wind Farms are being built in Taiwanese waters. PALFINGER supplies the offshore wind farm with tailor-made lifting solutions and carried out the Factory Acceptance Test (FAT) remotely with a digital solution that has proved particularly effective during the Corona crisis.
There will be two of the PTM 1800 telescopic cranes (shown here) on the Offshore Substations (OSS) of the Greater Changhua 1 & 2a Offshore Wind Farms.
The wind farm complex is being built in the Taiwan Strait, between approximately 35 km and 60 km off the coast of Changhua County. With a capacity of 900 MW, the Greater Changhua 1 & 2a Offshore Wind Farms are the largest far-shore wind farms in Taiwan and can supply clean electricity to approximately one million households. This will bring Taiwan closer to its goal of meeting 20 percent of its electricity needs from renewable sources by 2025. PALFINGER is involved in this challenging large-scale project with well-proven and reliable lifting solutions.
Highly durable and extremely reliable equipment
PALFINGER is equipping Taiwan’s first two offshore substations (OSS) with two PF14000-4.0m LDB davit cranes as well as two of the largest PTM1800A telescopic cranes. The four cranes have been especially designed to address the location-specific challenges of the project. “Above all, the straits and the risk of typhoons and earthquakes make Changhua a challenging assignment. The project is yet again another opportunity to prove our expertise in this growing market in the region,” emphasizes Alexander Lee, Area Sales Manager in Singapore. Thousands of kilometers apart, the PALFINGER Asia Pacific office, based in Singapore, worked together with the headquarter in Salzburg, Austria, to deliver the optimum equipment for the customer, who is based in Singapore and one of the leading manufacturers of mobile offshore installations.
Digital Factory Acceptance Tests using Smart Eye technology
Due to the Corona pandemic, the required Factory Acceptance Tests (FAT) could not take place at PALFINGER’s production site in Maribor, Slovenia. The company therefore relies on its digital service tool ‘Smart Eye’, which has been proven many times in the field. This innovative solution features a safety helmet equipped with a flexible and movable camera that enables a team of specialists in Europe to guide the customer in Singapore through all the FATs online and in real time. Iavor Markov, Contract & Tender Manager Marine & Wind Cranes at PALFINGER, carried out two of the FATs together with colleagues on site. “In addition to the load and function tests, we have been able to successfully transmit and solve a fault simulation live using Smart Eye together with troubleshooting software,” he points out, adding, "The simple solution impressed the customer. Even though both the customer and PALFINGER consider eye-to-eye contact essential to perform the first article inspection and the function test, the fact that no travel was required – especially in times like these – was also a relief in some way.” Usually, up to five customers would have been on site in Maribor. The remote FAT, in contrast, enabled even more people to participate online.
Since the successful remote tests during the Greater Changhua 1 & 2a projects, many other acceptance tests have been carried out in the marine sector using the PALFINGER Smart Eye. As a digital service tool, Smart Eye has proven to be an essential instrument for PALFINGER.
