Monopile upending hinge

A monopile upending hinger is used to upend the monopile from its horizontal stowed position on the vessel deck to its vertical position during its installation offshore.

Description of Manufacturing Process
Made of cut and welded steel parts. Machining, including milling, drilling, boring and grinding is required for smaller components within the tool and for interface surfaces.

Description of Supply Chain
Procured from a wind energy lifting equipment specialist, which either manufactures in-house or subcontracts the fabrication to a manufacturing partner. In both cases, the manufacturer typically does not have the required CNC capability and subcontracts the machining to a CNC expert.

Scottish Opportunity
Relevance to Scottish Supply Chain: Medium

Several foundation lifting equipment specialists operate in the UK, such as Osbit and Enabl. When local capability exists, they tend to appoint UK manufacturers for the fabrication of the tool, which themselves could subcontract machining to a Scotland-based CNC expert. The demand is, however, relatively low as hinges can be reused on many wind farms.