Siemens kicked off Westermeerwind offshore wind farm construction by installing the first monopile foundation at the Ijsselmeer last week.
‘De Schelde’ pontoon, which serves for transport and installation of monopiles, has been fitted with the 11350 Liebherr crane, owned by Van Oord/Mammoet, for the job.
The 35-meter long foundation piles, weighing around 250 tons, have been transported from Vlissingen to the project site, 500m from the Noordermeer Dijk.
Depending on the weather, every day one foundation pile will be driven into the seabed. The piling work on all 48 monopiles will take place during March and April.
The electrical cable burial is expected to take place in May while the first power generation is scheduled for late July / early August.
The entire offshore wind farm, comprising forty eight 3 MW turbines, is expected to be ready by mid-February 2016.