The ship Norse Wind entered into operation with a 3,200-ton crane capable of installing at sea wind turbines with blades larger than a football field.

Written by Douglas Avila

Published on 30/05/2026 at 13:59

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Delivered to the Belgian operator DEME, the ship Norse Wind went into operation carrying a 3,200-ton crane, a monstrous piece made to lift and plant wind turbines with blades larger than a football field and bases that weigh as much as a small building into the seabed.

There is a category of ship that almost no one sees, but without which offshore wind energy simply wouldn’t exist. They are installation vessels, floating machines designed for a single absurdly difficult task, planting giant turbines in the middle of the ocean. And the newest giant of this family is the Norse Wind, which has just entered service by DEME.

The number that defines the ship is that of its steel arm. The main crane lifts 3,200 tons, a capacity that allows handling turbines with rotors exceeding 300 meters in diameter and fixing them on monopile foundations that reach 3,000 tons each. To give you an idea, it’s like taking a structure weighing hundreds of cars and fitting it with millimetric precision into a hole in the seabed, with the ship rocking.

How to plant a turbine in the middle of the ocean

The process is one of the most impressive engineering feats that exist today, and almost no one pays attention to it. The ship arrives at the point, lowers giant legs to the bottom, and literally lifts itself out of the water, becoming a stable platform. From there, the crane goes into action, planting the base, assembling the tower, and fitting the blades one by one, all at dozens of meters high, with the wind and tide working against it.

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The race for ever larger turbines

There is a logic behind all this gigantism. The larger the turbine, the more energy it generates, and the wind industry is on a climb where each new generation of equipment surpasses the previous one in size. The problem is that a giant turbine requires a giant ship to install, and the old ones simply can’t handle the current blades and foundations. That’s why vessels like the Norse Wind are so strategic, they unlock the next generation of offshore parks.

It’s an interesting domino effect. The blade grows, so the foundation grows, so the crane needs to grow, so the entire ship needs to be redesigned. Each size leap of the turbine pulls a billion-dollar investment in a new installation fleet, and few companies in the world have the strength to fund these machines.

DEME is precisely one of those few. The Belgian company has built a reputation over the past decades in complex maritime works, from dredging to offshore park installation, and the Norse Wind is its bet for the next wave of giant turbines. Ordering such a ship is a long-term decision because the vessel costs hundreds of millions and only pays off over many years of installed parks. It’s the kind of bet that only makes sense for those who believe that offshore wind energy is here to stay and grow. And the queue of wind projects in Europe seems to support this view, because the North Sea alone currently concentrates a race of parks spread across the waters of several countries, in a collective effort to replace fossil fuel with wind that the entire continent closely follows. Each new installation ship is, in this sense, a vote of confidence in the future of this industry.

Ship crane lifting offshore wind turbine — The 3,200-ton crane handles rotors exceeding 300 meters in diameter.

The sea that Brazil has yet to explore

It’s impossible to look at this and not think about our coastline. Brazil has one of the largest coasts in the world and a wind potential at sea that experts describe as gigantic, especially in the Northeast and South, and yet offshore wind energy here is still in its infancy, stuck in regulatory discussions while Europe fills the sea with turbines.

Ships like the Norse Wind are exactly the type of technology that would make a difference in a future Brazilian offshore wind park. We see Europe building this industry piece by piece, creating jobs, fleet, and knowledge, while our high-quality wind continues to blow for free over an ocean that no one has yet harvested. Official studies have already mapped a Brazilian offshore wind potential greater than the entire electrical capacity currently installed in the country, and yet no park has come off the drawing board so far.

Specialized ship for offshore wind parks — Each new generation of turbine, larger than the previous one, requires ships like this to be installed.

The machine that makes offshore wind possible

I wonder how much of the clean energy that Europe celebrates depends, in the end, on half a dozen of these silent ships that almost never appear in the headlines. Without them, the giant turbines would be just projects on paper. The Norse Wind is, in this sense, one of those invisible pieces that support the entire energy transition.

It goes into operation at a time when the world is increasingly betting on offshore wind, and each turbine it plants will generate electricity for decades. It’s a discreet, gigantic, and fundamental job, transforming empty ocean into a power plant.

Will Brazil finally harvest the wind from its sea, or will we watch Europe do it for another decade?

The ship Norse Wind entered into operation with a 3,200-ton crane capable of installing at sea wind turbines with blades larger than a football field.

Delivered to the Belgian operator DEME, the ship Norse Wind went into operation carrying a 3,200-ton crane, a monstrous piece made to lift and plant wind turbines with blades larger than a football field and bases that weigh as much as a small building into the seabed.

How to plant a turbine in the middle of the ocean

The race for ever larger turbines

The sea that Brazil has yet to explore

The machine that makes offshore wind possible

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The ship Norse Wind entered into operation with a 3,200-ton crane capable of installing at sea wind turbines with blades larger than a football field.

Delivered to the Belgian operator DEME, the ship Norse Wind went into operation carrying a 3,200-ton crane, a monstrous piece made to lift and plant wind turbines with blades larger than a football field and bases that weigh as much as a small building into the seabed.

How to plant a turbine in the middle of the ocean

The race for ever larger turbines

The sea that Brazil has yet to explore

The machine that makes offshore wind possible

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A British company has installed in the middle of the ocean the world’s first floating platform that generates electricity 24 hours a day from the temperature difference between the surface and the depths of the Atlantic, without relying on wind or sun.

China is building an artificial island in the middle of the sea, covering 20 km², to construct the largest offshore airport in the world, the Dalian Jinzhouwan. This $4.3 billion project is anchored on more than 3,000 pillars embedded in the rock beneath the ocean and is scheduled to open in 2035.

Austrian engineers have developed an inflatable concrete technology that transforms flat slabs into domes using only air pressure, eliminating scaffolding and temporary forms, and potentially changing the way bridges, tunnels, and curved roofs are constructed worldwide.

Engineers had to pour concrete mixed with tons of ice throughout entire nights in the Dubai desert to erect the Burj Khalifa; any carelessness could clog the pipes half a mile high.

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