Offshore Wind

Vessels

Scania Quad Power for WindServe Odyssey

By Greg Trauthwein

Image: Scania USA

WindServe Marine, the offshore wind division of the Reinauer Group of companies, recently completed construction of the purpose-built crew transfer vessel from its SENESCO Shipbuilding facility in Rhode Island, a 64.5 ft. aluminum high speed catamaran which is “typical for crew transfer vessels that are operated in a Europe,” said Josh Diedrich, Managing Director of WindServe Marine. For power the boat features four Scania engines – the Scania Quad Power Solution – driving Hamilton Jets.

“Based on our project requirements, we knew that we had to provide a quad propulsion vessel for redundancy and client needs,” said Diedrich. “We knew we needed high-end, high-speed engines that met our engine tier requirements, our horsepower requirements and also had a really good power to weight ratio.”

According to Diedrich the Scania solution checked all of those boxes, and more. “A big thing for us, is we want to make sure that the parts and service network is there, and it’s going to be there where we need it. Operating on the East Coast, we vetted the Scania network for service dealerships and distributors, and made sure that on the East Coast, they were able to provide us with the service and parts we need.”

Most routine maintenance and repairs will be done by the WindServe crew, “but if there’s an emergency and we need a spare part that we don’t have in stock, or we need a service technician to troubleshoot that’s outside of our crew’s range of competence, we needed to make sure we had a good service network,” said Diedrich. He said Scania has set up a very good network on the East Coast, a network that can not only lend technical support but access to spare parts within 12 to 24 hours.

The Scania Quad Power Solution

Scania is not a new name in offshore wind power business, having cut its teeth in the demanding and mature European offshore wind sector. The 4 x Scania DI16, 800-hp V8 engines set up in the WindServe Odyssey are constructed of compacted graphite iron (CGI) material, which according to Al Alcalá, sales manager, marine, Scania U.S.A. provides both strength for durability and light weight for speed performance and fuel savings. “Because (the engines are) compliant with EPA Tier three emissions, you don’t need after treatment, and that saves weight, too,” said Alcalá. “We can provide the flexibility with multiple engines, save weight overall on the design, and have a very strong, robust, reliable product.”

As with any engineered product, maintenance and support is at the forefront to keep operations running. The Scania engines are designed from the start with ease of maintenance in mind, particularly enabling the end user to conduct routine maintenance with ease. “Customers are able to do a lot of the work on their own,” said Alcalá. “Even our own process, what we call our Scania Smart Support, relies a lot on one service technician being able to do anything to maintain or repair this engine. For example individual cylinder heads weigh only 40 pounds each, so you don’t need an A-frame inside the vessel to take a head off. At 800 horsepower and 3,800 pounds, these engines are very power dense.”

Equipment List

  • Main Engines: 4 x Scania DI16 - 800 HP
  • Generators: 2 x Kohler Marine - 32 HP
  • Propulsion: 4 x Hamilton HM461 Waterjets
  • Control System: AVX with JETanchor Station Keeping
  • Automation System: First Electric
  • Vessel Monitoring System: Reygar BAREFleet
  • Forward Deck Crane: Palfinger 12000 PK
  • Bow Thrusters: 2 x Sidepower - 20 Hp / 15 kW Each
  • Anchor Windlass: Hercules AAW90 (Starboard Bow)
  • High Pressure Washer: Hercules, Fixed on Port Bow Area
  • Bow Fender: RG Seasight
  • HVAC: Complete Vessel air Conditioning & Heating
  • Stern A-Frame: 2.65 Tons Capacity
  • 40 Meter Fuel Transfer Hose Reel Located on the Bow for Offshore Fuel Transfers
  • CCTV: Video Camera Coverage of All Work Areas
  • Entertainment: DirecTV Satellite Television
  • Internet: KVH Fleet One VSAT
  • Seats: KPM Suspension Seating
Maritime Reporter Magazine
April 2021