PRESS RELEASE, May 1 2025
X-LABORATORY, JAN DE NUL AND REEL SAS UNVEIL GAME CHANGING MOTION COMPENSATED PILE GRIPPER
SETTING A NEW BENCHMARK FOR OFFSHORE WIND INSTALLATION
Thor Wind Farm, North Sea – X-Laboratory, proudly supporting and empowering Jan De Nul and REEL SAS, celebrates the launch of the most advanced next-generation Motion Compensated Pile Gripper ever deployed to market. This pioneering technology, developed for Jan De Nul, contributed to a successful operation of the first XL monopile at the RWE Thor Wind Project—completed within the first 36 hours on April 29th 2025.
As a solid foundation of this breakthrough lies X-Laboratory’s proprietary DynaMotion™ Motion Compensation Technology and the X-Control Guidance System, offering unmatched installation accuracy even under the harshest offshore conditions, including long-period swells. Leveraging space-grade sensor and control technology, the Motion Compensated Pile Gripper delivers exceptional robustness and performance, enabling continuous operation on high-gain Dynamic Positioning (DP) settings despite ground contact—setting new standards for offshore installation efficiency, economics, reliability and safety.
Key technologies include:
- Patented DynaMotionTM Motion Control Technology
X-Laboratories DynaMotion control dynamically adjusts the gripper’s mechanical properties – fully electronically controllable and in real-time – to match actual environmental conditions. This minimizes vessel and DP disturbances, enables ultra-fast, accurate response, and ensures unparalleled pile placement and inclination accuracy under highly dynamic conditions. A game-changer technology in the market.
- X-Control Guidance System Technology
Based on X-Laboratory’s best-in-class, survey-grade sensor system, the guidance and navigation system integrates advanced sensor fusion algorithms with latest state of the art control methods to deliver real-time, ultra-precise inclination measurements and adaptive motion corrections—executed fully automatically and on the fly during pile tracking, placement and balancing.
- DP2-level failsafe redundancy
The entire Motion Compensated Pile Gripper features a unique DP2 grade redundancy, partially inspired from space technology, which ensures that under failure of any component, installations can continue to take place without degradation of performance.
“This machine marks the beginning of the future of offshore wind installation,” says Dr. André Schiele, CEO/CTO of X-Laboratory. “With the first-ever deployment of active compliance control at this scale, this machine is a world-first. We are enabling continuous, high-speed, high-accuracy pile installation that will unlock unprecedented project yields and significantly extend operational weather windows. We are deeply grateful to Jan De Nul for their trust, vision and Can Do mentality in jointly realizing this game-changing technology together with REEL SAS.”
Jan Van De Velde, Director of Newbuilding at Jan De Nul, emphasizes:
“The innovative technology from X-Laboratory supports Jan De Nul in installing monopile foundations with high accuracy, even in challenging conditions.”
The system’s debut at RWE’s Thor Wind Project marks a historic milestone. By enabling faster, more reliable, monopile installations, this technology will play a vital role in accelerating offshore wind development and supporting Europe’s energy independence ambitions.
X-LABORATORY – ROTTERDAM
X-Laboratory is a cutting-edge DeepTech engineering firm specializing in high-performance motion compensation, dynamic control systems, advanced sensor technologies, and force management solutions. Bridging space-grade innovation and offshore engineering, X-Laboratory operates from the RDM Campus in the Port of Rotterdam. Look for the “X-Lab Inside” quality mark on licensed offshore systems in operation.