Danish design and consulting company OSK-Offshore A/S has assisted and worked in cooperation with Fred. Olsen Windcarrier (FOWIC) to prepare the wind farm installation vessel Bold Tern for the turbine installation project at the 402MW Veja Mate offshore wind farm.
The first of 67 Siemens 6MW wind turbines installed at the site started supplying the German electricity grid with wind energy on 18 January, two months ahead of schedule, OSK-Offshore said.
The remaining 66 turbines will be installed and commissioned with an expected completion in mid-2017. The wind turbines are being loaded out at the Port of Esbjerg in Denmark and installed at the site some 95 kilometres off the island of Borkum by Bold Tern and Seajacks Scylla.
OSK-Offshore has provided a range of design solutions for the project on board Bold Tern, including all seafastening design and related analyses and documentations, detail design for production for the wind turbine components, as well as foundation for upright transport of towers.
The company also provided design solutions for a blade rack ‘over the shipside’ supporting structure, nacelle fastening, miscellaneous auxiliary lifting equipment to be mobilised on board the vessel, and analysis and design of necessary modification of supporting deck structure.
“These large-scale projects allow us to fully apply our extensive offshore design knowledge when designing custom solutions for the installation vessels. And in doing so also to push the environmental operational limitations to new standards,” said Anders Ørgård, Chief Commercial Officer of OSK-Offshore A/S.
The entire mobilisation of Bold Tern was completed in just three weeks, the company said.
Veja Mate is a EUR 1.9 billion offshore wind project owned by the Highland Group Holdings Ltd, Siemens Financial Services, and CI II managed by Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners.
The wind farm is expected to be fully operational by the end of 2017.