NorWind Installer (NWI) provided the construction vessel “North Sea Giant” owned by North Sea Shipping when BAUER Renewables Ltd., a subsidiary of BAUER Spezialtiefbau GmbH, successfully installed a drilled-in monopile foundation structure for a tidal energy turbine at the offshore test site of the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) in Orkney, Scotland, in late July.
The project was completed on time despite exceptional challenges posed not only by the drilling works at a water depth of 37 meters, but also by needing to operate in the strong currents of up to 4.5 knots.
BAUER Renewables Ltd., utilising Mojo Maritime as their operational partner, had partnered with NWI to test out a newly designed and built seabed drilling rig from BAUER Maschinen GmbH, which was operated from the DP vessel “North Sea Giant” originally designed for oil and gas operations, which proved very efficient also for this kind of challenge. The 23 meter long mono-pile with a diameter of 2 meters was grouted into an 11 meter deep rock socket. The pile will be the foundation structure for a 1 MW Tidal Turbine built and operated by Voith Hydro.
As a company specializing in offshore foundation installations for wind and tidal energy turbines, being part of this project has provided valuable experience for us, Simen Hesleskaug, CEO of NWI said. – A drilled foundation of such dimensions and under such challenging conditions has never been done before, and it proves that with this new technology, installation of foundations for the renewable energy industry on rocky seabed conditions can be done efficiently, Hesleskaug said.
Previously NWI has successfully installed pre-piled jacket foundations for offshore wind turbines in sedimentary seabed conditions at the Alpha Ventus site in Germany, where the pre-piled jacket concept was proven by NWI for offshore wind. Hesleskaug is positive that the experience gained with Bauer can be utilised when competing for future offshore projects in challenging seabed conditions like the ones at the French Atlantic coast and in the Baltic Sea, as well as future work at the EMEC site.
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Source: scatec, August 17, 2011