Statoil has awarded the Bilbao-based Navacel with a contract for the supply of five towers which will support the turbines at the world’s first floating wind farm, the 30MW Hywind Scotland Pilot Park.
The turbine towers to be supplied by Navacel will have a height of 83 metres with a diameter of 7.5 metres at the base and 4.2 metres at the top, where the turbines will be installed. The weight of each tower will be 620 tons.
Navacel’s scope of works includes purchasing of structural materials, the entire manufacturing process of the towers, and the surface treatment process and the installation of the electromechanical systems and tower internals including platforms, stairs, lift, lighting, electrical panels and wirings. The company will also procure and install the external platforms, where two cranes will be installed to allow the lifting of operating vessels.
Navacel will provide each tower divided in four sections ready to be assembled straight away. The tower sections will be loaded directly from the company’s Axpe quay at the Port of Bilbao to the assembly site which is vital due to the scale and weight of the towers.
All the works are expected to be completed in nine months with planned delivery in December 2016.
The wind farm, situated 25 kilometres from Peterhead, Aberdeenshire, comprises five 6MW Siemens turbines, installed on SPAR floating units in waters depths of between 90 and 120 metres and distributed in an area of four square kilometres.
The floating wind turbines will have a total height of 258 meters, with 178 metres of the structures floating above water, and the remaining 80 metres submerged underwater.
The EUR 200 million project is scheduled for commissioning in 2017.