11.7% LCOE reduction
“An order of magnitude faster to install, with less weather downtime and no seabed risks”
Installation
The Gravity Tripod™ originated from work to reduce construction time, cost, and risk. Employing offshore oil and gas techniques of “construct onshore, install offshore” the Gravity Tripod™ significantly reduces construction times, bringing forward revenue, and reducing debt costs, benefiting all.
With a modelled installation rate, backed up by evidence from other gravity base installation campaigns, of 4 structures per day the Gravity Tripod™ is an order of magnitude faster to install. At the same time the high capacity vessels employed in the installation campaign have little weather sensitivity, are utilised efficiently with the barge fed strategy, while the lack of piling avoids sub-seabed risk.
THE GRAVITY TRIPOD’S INSTALLATION ADVANTAGES ARE
- Faster to Install
- Cheaper to Install
- Less Weather Risk
- No Seabed Risk
FASTER TO INSTALL
With an installation rate of 4 per day (matching the assembly rate) the Gravity Tripod™ is an order of mangitude faster to construct that other substructure designs. The speed of the construction campaign allows developers to commission their projects more than a year earlier saving an example 1GW project over €300m in debt finance costs.
CHEAPER TO INSTALL
The extremely fast installation rate, and high utilisation of the installation vessel with the barge fed strategy supplying structures to the field, means the installation cost per structure is very low. BVG assessed the installation to be 51% cheaper than for competitor designs.
LESS WEATHER RISK
The stability and weather working capability of the high capacity lift vessels, together with the short duration of the installation process, means that the weater risk and weather downtime are both low. Weather window utilisation can be optimised with the barge fed strategy to make the most of breaks in the weather, as such installation both during the early and late parts of the construction season is feasible.
NO SEABED RISK
Placing the Gravity Tripod™ directly onto the seabed, without the need for dredging or rock reinforcement, means that all sub-seabed risk is avoided. The lack of piling completely transforms contractual clauses such as unforseable seabed conditions and the danger of problems in substructure installation campaigns cascading down through the project programme and destroying the business case.
