ACE Winches delivers subsea infrastructure project

Leading global deck machinery specialist ACE Winches has completed a scope of work for Technip as part of a subsea infrastructure project in the Loyal field, west of the Shetland Islands.  Quad204 is the redevelopment of the Schiehallion and Loyal fields, located 175 km west of Shetland and 15 km north of the Foinaven field.

The complete project will see an existing floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel replaced with a larger, purpose-built FPSO to accommodate new field tie-ins. The development of additional wells and the installation of new subsea infrastructures in neighbouring fields are also planned.

The bespoke solution from ACE Winches includes a hydraulic drum winch, overboard system and spooling gear, designed and manufactured at the company’s facilities in Aberdeenshire and developed in collaboration with the end client, in line with its requirements for riser installation on board the FPSO. The system was designed by ACE Winches’ skilled engineering division, which has previous experience of working on large-scale subsea projects.

Challenged by limited deck space, the company developed a package that houses the hydraulic drum winch, with a safe working load of 150te across all layers, an overboard system and spooling gear into the winch base frame. The winch package includes closed loop hydraulic power units, located nearby.

A custom-made compact winch was designed to accommodate the limited space and meet the required performance characteristics for riser installation, while the overboard system provides access to the tower, with ladders and walkways included.

All the equipment was fully tested at ACE Winches’ test bed facility, with testing simulating full operational mode at full performance and brake load holds. All tests were carried out to DNV specifications for lifting appliances. The equipment will shortly be mobilised to the client.

Richard Wilson, Chief Operations Officer, ACE Winches said: “The limited deck space presented us with a challenge, but we overcame it with an innovative design which delivers a high quality solution that obtains maximum use and efficiency from the area available. “