System for temporarily holding, during piling operations, a foundation pile intended to receive the mast of an off-shore wind turbine

A system for temporarily holding, during pile driving operations, a foundation pile intended to receive the mast of an off-shore wind turbine, the temporary holding system comprising:

• a sleeve delimiting a through conduit, intended to receive a section of said foundation pile and defining a longitudinal axis;
• and
• a support frame, which carries said sleeve and which comprises a base configured to be secured to a floating device, the support frame comprising:
• a slide system, defining two translational degrees of freedom between said sleeve and said base, said translational degrees of freedom extending in two parallel planes, being perpendicular to each other and being perpendicular to said longitudinal axis of said sleeve, and
• an actuator configured, to generate displacements of said sleeve relative to said base according to said two translational degrees of freedom, the actuator consisting of electric motors associated with an electric energy storage to store the electric energy generated by one or more of an electric power source of the floating craft and the electric motors in a braking phase, and to restore the electrical energy in an actuating phase,
• wherein the slide system comprises two superimposed slide modules which each define one of said translational degrees of freedom, the slide modules each comprising:
• at least one rail comprising at least one raceway which is oriented parallel to said associated translational degree of freedom, and
• at least one rolling element configured to circulate along said at least one raceway, the at least one rolling element consisting of a cylindrical roller.