Seajacks and Van Oord have been awarded contracts to install the jacket foundations at the East Anglia ONE offshore wind farm, with the main installation vessel being the Seajacks Scylla.
Van Oord will be responsible for the logistics of all jacket foundations and piles and the transport to the marshalling port of Flushing (Vlissingen) in the Netherlands. From there, the foundations will be transported and installed with the main installation vessel.
Jonathan Cole , Managing Director of Offshore Wind at ScottishPower Renewables, said: “Seajacks are a world-leading offshore installation company who are based in East Anglia, so we are especially pleased that we were able to secure their services for our project. The additional jobs and training opportunities that this contract will create locally is important for our project.”
The contract will support 140 current positions with Seajacks, and allows the company to create up to 75 new jobs with at least 5 new local apprentices recruited as part of the contract, according to ScottishPower Renewables.
The Scylla will be working on the project for a minimum of six months, starting in April 2018.
East Anglia ONE will consist of 102 Siemens 7MW turbines and an electrical substation which are scheduled for full commissioning by the end of 2018. Navantia and Windar will produce 42 jacket foundations for the project, while 60 jackets will be built by Lamprell .
The GBP 2.5 billion offshore wind farm is located in the southern North Sea, approximately 45 kilometers off southeast of the town of Lowestoft. It will generate 714MW of electricity when completed in 2020, enough to power 500,000 homes per year.
“East Anglia ONE continues to make excellent progress. We are now starting preparations for the onshore work, as well as ensuring all of the plans are in place for the offshore work. The project will be the best value offshore windfarm ever constructed, at the same time as delivering industry-leading levels of UK content. We are proud that the project is encouraging investment and supporting highly skilled jobs in Great Yarmouth, Lowestoft, Hull and Belfast,” Jonathan Cole said.