The first wind turbine foundations have been installed at the 350MW Wikinger offshore wind farm, Iberdrola, the owner and developer of the wind farm located in the German part of the Baltic Sea, said.
The milestone was announced in the Spanish utility’s financial report for the first quarter of 2016.
Iberdrola awarded the EUR 135 million contract for the transport and installation of Wikinger’s seventy foundations and six offshore substation piles to Royal Boskalis and VolkerWessels. Boskalis in the meantime acquired all offshore activities from VolkerWessels and is executing the project on a 100% basis.
Each of the seventy wind turbine foundations consists of a four-legged jacket and four piles which are being transported from four different locations in Europe to Sassnitz-Mukran in Germany by Boskalis barges and anchor handling tugs and Dockwise semi-submersible transport vessels.
Following the transport from Sassnitz-Mukran to the wind farm, the first piles were driven into the seabed after which the jackets were installed and connected to the piles. The pile installation activities were executed by Boskalis’ installation vessel, Giant 7.
The installation of the remaining foundations is expected to be completed in the fall of 2016.
The foundations will support Adwen’s 5MW turbines which are currently under construction in Bremerhaven and Stade.
The EUR 1.4 billion Wikinger is scheduled to be operational by the end of 2017.