The technology group Wärtsilä will supply the steerable and tunnel thrusters for two new wind farm turbine installation vessels being built for the China Three Gorges Corporation (CTGC), a China state-owned power company. The ships will serve China’s expanding offshore wind power sector. The orders were placed by CSSC Huangpu Wenchong Shipbuilding Co, the yard building a 2000 t wind turbine installation vessel (WTIV), and by China Merchants Heavy Industry (Jiangsu) Co, the yard building a 3000 t heavy lift vessel.

The orders with Wärtsilä were placed in May 2021. The Wärtsilä thruster solutions provide the level of performance required to ensure optimal positioning for offshore installation vessels regardless of the sea and weather conditions. Furthermore, the weight of onboard equipment is an important consideration for jack-up vessels, and the compact Wärtsilä thruster package saves weight without compromising performance.

“Wind power is becoming increasingly important for China, and we are building these two ships on a fast-track schedule to support this programme. We appreciate Wärtsilä’s ability to deliver the thrusters in line with our timetable. Their local engineering and project management assistance is of great value to us,” says Mr. Wang Peng, Project Manager, CTGC.

Each of the vessels will have an optimised thruster configuration consisting of WST-32FP main propulsion units and relevant WTT transverse thruster sizes. The future-proof design of the thrusters features high redundancy for less energy consumption, and proven reliability. They also comply with applicable environmental regulations with the use of Environmentally Acceptable Lubricants (EAL).

China is expected to boost its offshore wind power generation capacity to 50 GW by the end of 2029. The aim is to reach 10% of the country’s total wind power generation capacity, which currently is at 3%.