Norway's Nekkar gets EUR-2.1m grant for turbine installation tech

Nekkar ASA (OSE:NKR) has secured a NOK-21-million (USD 2.5m/EUR 2.1m) grant from Innovation Norway to aid the development of its installation technology for wind turbines, the Norwegian industrial technology company said on Wednesday.

According to Nekkar's chief executive Preben Liltved, the technology, called SkyWalker, can significantly reduce time, cost and the environmental footprint of installing wind turbines.

SkyWalker allows a controlled lift that can operate heavier loads and reach larger heights than current cranes, the company says, which could pave the way for bigger onshore wind turbines and hence further costs reductions for wind energy. It uses active heave compensation coming from offshore lifting systems in combination with digital solutions. The technology will also aim to unlock more sites for wind turbine installations.

Nekkar is developing SkyWalker in partnership with an undisclosed wind turbine original equipment manufacturer (OEM) and Norway's Fred Olsen Renewables, with help from academia.

The technology is being devised as a zero emissions system. Being smaller than mobile cranes, it reduces the footprint in nature and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from transportation.

Nekkar said that later versions of SkyWalker can be used in the installation of both bottom-fixed and floating offshore wind turbines.

(NOK 1 = USD 0.118/EUR 0.099)

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