H Nordic maritime turbines are compact, light, and designed to mount to existing deck structures using standard bolted connections. Installation is conducted in port during a scheduled port call. The vessel does not need to be withdrawn from service for an extended period, and no underwater hull work is involved.
Drydock is necessary when work must be done to the hull below the waterline -- painting, propeller work, shaft seal replacement, hull inspections. It is also used for structural modifications that require the vessel to be out of the water for stability and access reasons.
H Nordic turbine installations involve none of these. The mounting structure, the turbines, the cabling runs, and the battery enclosures are all topside -- on the deck and superstructure. Nothing goes below the waterline. Nothing requires the vessel to be floated out.
The ~800 kg unit weight and compact footprint impose modest structural loads that most commercial vessel deck structures can accommodate without reinforcement. A structural assessment confirms this for each installation, but the typical outcome is standard bolted connections to existing structural members.
A scheduled port call installation covers turbine mounting, cabling, battery module commissioning, and system integration with the vessel's electrical architecture. The exact scope and duration depend on three variables:
Number of units. A four-unit installation is more involved than a single-unit trial installation. The reference configuration of four 100 kW turbines requires planning the cable runs from each position to the battery enclosure and the connection to the vessel's DC bus.
Deck configuration. Vessels with clear upper deck access allow efficient installation. Vessels with more complex deck layouts -- container positions, crane rails, deck equipment -- require more detailed pre-planning to route cables and position mounting hardware.
Electrical integration complexity. Most commercial vessels have a DC bus architecture that the H Nordic system connects to directly. For vessels with AC distribution systems, a DC/AC inverter stage is added, which adds to the integration scope but does not change the port-call installation model.
H Nordic provides a detailed installation specification for each vessel following the deck layout assessment. This includes the expected installation window, the crew access requirements during installation, and the commissioning procedure.
Before installation, H Nordic conducts a structural assessment of the proposed mounting positions. This confirms that the deck structure at each position can accept the load from the turbine and its mounting hardware, under the combined static and dynamic loads it will experience at sea.
The ~800 kg unit weight is modest by commercial maritime standards. By way of comparison, a single standard 20-foot shipping container weighs approximately 2,200 kg empty. Most deck structures designed for cargo or equipment loads have substantial margin above what an H Nordic turbine installation requires.
The structural assessment is a standard part of the delivery scope, not an additional cost.
For operators who do have planned maintenance calls or drydock periods coming up, those windows are convenient for installation -- there is typically more time available and the vessel is already in a reduced-operations state. But they are not necessary.
For operators who want to begin capturing fuel savings as soon as possible, a standard port call is sufficient. H Nordic recommends identifying a port call with at least 24 to 48 hours of berth time for a four-unit installation, allowing for delivery of equipment to the berth and a comfortable installation schedule without working against cargo operations.
See also: Compatible vessel types · How turbines are secured to deck
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