Houlder has announced its award winning Turbine Access System (TAS), fabricated at MKW Engineering, has been successfully Load Tested in the presence of Lloyds Register. The TAS, developed with BMT Nigel Gee, is designed to provide safe and reliable access for personnel between typical workboats and offshore wind turbine structures.

As well as enhance safety,TAS has been designed to extend maintenance, installation and commissioning operability compared to current transfer methods. It achieves this by enabling crew transfers via a lightweight, motion compensated gangway installed on the bow. In contrast to other transfer systems, the TAS does not require vessel Dynamic Positioning (DP) or any part to be attached to the turbine structure itself. This unique approach won Houlder the Spirit of Innovation award at the 2011 Seawork International exhibition and the project recently gained Carbon Trust funding.

This first TAS unit is destined for Turbine Transfer’s new 19m ‘Caernarfon Bay’ workboat and an extensive Sea Trials programme is planned for early next year. Rupert Hare, Houlder’s Managing Director commented “Seeing the Turbine Access System take shape is testament to the talents of our team and partners. 2012 is going to be an exciting year for Offshore Wind and we’re delighted we’ll be playing our part.”

You can read a data sheet here and see an animation of it in operation below.