TIV Resolution
Encyclopedia
Wind turbine
A wind turbine is a device that converts kinetic energy from the wind into mechanical energy. If the mechanical energy is used to produce electricity, the device may be called a wind generator or wind charger. If the mechanical energy is used to drive machinery, such as for grinding grain or...
at offshore wind farms. She was the first self-elevating Turbine Installation Vessel
Jackup rig
A jack-up rig is a type of mobile platform that is able to stand still on the sea floor, resting on a number of supporting legs. The most popular designs use 3 independent legs, although some jackups have 4 legs or more...
in the world.. She can raise herself on her six legs between 3 metres (10 ft) and 46 metres (150.9 ft) above the sea.
Description
MPI Resolution is a 14,857 GTGross tonnage
Gross tonnage is a unitless index related to a ship's overall internal volume. Gross tonnage is different from gross register tonnage...
vessel which has six legs that it can use to raise itself out of the sea when installing offshore wind turbines. Resolution is designed for use in the North Sea
North Sea
In the southwest, beyond the Straits of Dover, the North Sea becomes the English Channel connecting to the Atlantic Ocean. In the east, it connects to the Baltic Sea via the Skagerrak and Kattegat, narrow straits that separate Denmark from Norway and Sweden respectively...
, although she can be deployed elsewhere if required. She has the capacity for ten wind turbines at a time. The whole ship can be jacked up out of the sea on her six legs, to provide a stable platform when installing wind turbines. The jacking system is a hydraulic one. She can raise herself between 3 metres (10 ft) and 46 metres (150.9 ft) above the sea.
MPI Resolution is powered by four ABB AMA4xxLxL diesel generators of 1920 kW each powering four Aquamaster US 205/3850 azimuth thruster
Azimuth thruster
An azimuth thruster is a configuration of ship propellers placed in pods that can be rotated in any horizontal direction, making a rudder unnecessary...
s of 1500 kW each. Additionally, there are three ABB AMA400L6L diesel generators powering three Kamewa
Kamewa Waterjets
Kamewa Karlstad Mekaniska Werkstads Aktiebolag founded in the city of Karlstad in the central of Sweden was a Swedish world famous company in its line of business, which was acquired by the British Vickers group in 1986. Acquiring Vickers in 1999, Rolls-Royce plc now owns the Kamewa portfolio...
TT1650 CP bow thruster
Bow thruster
A bow thruster is a transversal propulsion device built into, or mounted to, the bow of a ship or boat to make it more maneuverable. Bow thrusters make docking easier, since they allow the captain to turn the vessel to port or starboard without using the main propulsion mechanism which requires...
s of 700 kW.
On arrival at the site of the wind turbine, MPI Resolution lowers her six legs to stand on the seabed, and then jacks herself up above the surface of the sea. This provides a stable platform to hammer down a mono-pile into the sea bed and install the wind turbine. When the turbine has been installed, Resolution lowers herself and sails to the next position to repeat the process.
History
Mayflower Resolution was ordered in 2002 by Mayflower Energy Ltd. She was built by Shanhaiguan shipyard, QinhuangdaoQinhuangdao
Qinhuangdao is a port city in northeastern Hebei province of North China. It is about 300 km east of Beijing, on the Bohai Sea, the innermost gulf of the Yellow Sea....
, China as yard number TIV 1. She was named in honour of the Mayflower
Mayflower
The Mayflower was the ship that transported the English Separatists, better known as the Pilgrims, from a site near the Mayflower Steps in Plymouth, England, to Plymouth, Massachusetts, , in 1620...
, which transported the second batch of settlers to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. She was designed by Dane
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
Knud E Hansen and construction was supervised by Graig Shipping. Mayflower Resolution was built for Mayflower Energy Ltd, part of Mayflower Corporation. Delivery was scheduled for February 2003, but was delayed and the £20,000,000 budget was exceeded by some £10,000,000. The addition of a remotely operated vehicle to lay submarine cables pushed to final bill for her construction to £53,000,000.
Mayflower Resolution was completed in November 2003, and delivered in February 2004. The journey from Qinhuangdao to Falmouth
Falmouth, Cornwall
Falmouth is a town, civil parish and port on the River Fal on the south coast of Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It has a total resident population of 21,635.Falmouth is the terminus of the A39, which begins some 200 miles away in Bath, Somerset....
, Cornwall
Cornwall
Cornwall is a unitary authority and ceremonial county of England, within the United Kingdom. It is bordered to the north and west by the Celtic Sea, to the south by the English Channel, and to the east by the county of Devon, over the River Tamar. Cornwall has a population of , and covers an area of...
took 66 days. She underwent trials in Falmouth Bay, where she was tested for the first time. Mayflower Resolution was then put to work installing wind turbines at the North Hoyle
North Hoyle
North Hoyle Offshore Wind Farm is Wales' first offshore wind farm, and the UK's first major offshore renewable power project. Situated in Liverpool Bay, it commenced operation in 2003....
windfarm for National Wind Power. The contract ended on 23 March and Mayflower Resolution sailed to Middlesbrough
Middlesbrough
Middlesbrough is a large town situated on the south bank of the River Tees in north east England, that sits within the ceremonial county of North Yorkshire...
, arriving on 30 March. She was due to depart for Great Yarmouth
Great Yarmouth
Great Yarmouth, often known to locals as Yarmouth, is a coastal town in Norfolk, England. It is at the mouth of the River Yare, east of Norwich.It has been a seaside resort since 1760, and is the gateway from the Norfolk Broads to the sea...
on 8 April to work on installing turbines for the Scroby Sands wind farm
Scroby Sands wind farm
The Scroby Sands Wind Farm is a wind farm located on the Scroby Sands sandbank in the North Sea, off the coast of Great Yarmouth in eastern England, United Kingdom. It was commissioned in March 2004 by Powergen Renewables Offshore, a division of E.ON UK. It is expected to produce up to a maximum...
. On 31 March, Mayflower Corporation went into administration with debts of £17,700,000. Deloitte Touche
Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu
Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited , commonly referred to as Deloitte, is one of the Big Four accountancy firms along with PricewaterhouseCoopers , Ernst & Young, and KPMG....
were appointed as administrators. Mayflower Resolution was sold by the administrators for £12,000,000 to a group of Mayflower Corporation's managers who managed to get backing from Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese bank Mizuho International
Mizuho Bank
is the core retail banking unit of Mizuho Financial Group, which is the second-largest financial services company in Japan and one of the three so-called Japanese "megabanks"...
The new owners became MPI Offshore, based in Stokesley
Stokesley
Stokesley is a small market town and civil parish in the Hambleton district of North Yorkshire, England. It lies on the River Leven. Stokesley is located about two miles south of the boundary of the borough of Middlesbrough and ten miles south of Middlesbrough town centre. Stokesley is located...
, North Yorkshire
North Yorkshire
North Yorkshire is a non-metropolitan or shire county located in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England, and a ceremonial county primarily in that region but partly in North East England. Created in 1974 by the Local Government Act 1972 it covers an area of , making it the largest...
. In 2006, MPI Resolution was used in the construction of the Barrow Offshore Wind
Barrow Offshore Wind
The Barrow Offshore Wind Farm is an offshore wind farm in the East Irish Sea approximately south west of Walney Island, near Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, England, with an installed capacity of 90 MW. The 30 turbine wind farm was completed in June 2006 and first power was generated in...
project for Centrica
Centrica
Centrica plc is a multinational utility company, based in the United Kingdom but also with interests in North America. Centrica is the largest supplier of gas to domestic customers in the UK, and one of the largest suppliers of electricity, operating under the trading names "Scottish Gas" in...
and DONG Energy
DONG Energy
-History:The Danish state company Dansk Naturgas A/S was founded in 1972 to manage resources in the Danish sector of the North Sea. After some years, the company was renamed to Dansk Olie og Naturgas A/S . At the beginning of 2000s, DONG started to extend itself into the electricity market by...
. In 2008, Resolution was used in the construction of the Lynn and Inner Dowsing Wind Farm
Lynn and Inner Dowsing Wind Farm
Lynn and Inner Dowsing Wind Farm is located in the North Sea, in the shallow waters off the coast of Lincolnshire, England. Completed on time and on budget in 2008, its 54 Siemens Wind Power 3.6-107 wind turbines have a generating capacity of 194 MW, enough to power 130,000 homes on average.The...
for Centrica
Centrica
Centrica plc is a multinational utility company, based in the United Kingdom but also with interests in North America. Centrica is the largest supplier of gas to domestic customers in the UK, and one of the largest suppliers of electricity, operating under the trading names "Scottish Gas" in...
. It was announced in July 2008 that two more ships were to be built, based on MPI Resolution but slightly larger. They will be built by Cosco
COSCO
China Ocean Shipping Company, known as COSCO or COSCO Group, is one of the largest liner shipping companies worldwide. It is a government owned company of the People's Republic of China...
, at their Nantong
Nantong
Nantong is a prefecture-level city in Jiangsu province, People's Republic of China. Located on the northern bank of the Yangtze River, near the river mouth, Nantong is a vital river port bordering Yancheng to the north, Taizhou to the west, Suzhou and Shanghai to the south across the river, and...
shipyard. The two new ships will be named MPI Adventure
TIV MPI Adventure
TIV MPI Adventure is a turbine installation vessel that was built in 2010 by Cosco Nantong Shipyard, China.-Description:MPI Adventure is long, with a beam of . She has a draught of between and , with a depth of . She has an air draught of when operating at a draught. The ship is propelled by...
and MPI Discovery. In February 2008, Resolution was sent to Esbjerg
Esbjerg
Esbjerg Municipality is a municipality in Region of Southern Denmark on the west coast of the Jutland peninsula in southwest Denmark. Its mayor is Johnny Søtrup, from the Venstre political party...
, Denmark to work on the installation of a wind farm. In January 2009, Resolution was used in the construction of the Robin Rigg Wind Farm
Robin Rigg Wind Farm
Robin Rigg Wind Farm, Scotland's first offshore wind farm, has been constructed by E.ON at Robin Rigg in the Solway Firth, a sandbank midway between the Galloway and Cumbrian coasts. The windfarm first generated power for test purposes on 9 September 2009...
. In 2010, Resolution was employed in the construction of the 100-turbine Thanet wind farm, off the coast of Kent
Kent
Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...
, United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, sometimes carrying and installing 9 complete turbines.
Resolution also featured in the documentary Mighty Ships
Mighty Ships
Mighty Ships is a documentary television program produced by Exploration Production Inc. in Canada. It is aired on Discovery Channel Canada and also broadcast around the world...
, season 2.