Northern Ireland’s marine manufacturer Harland and Wolff (H&W) has been chosen by jacket foundation supplier ST3 Offshore to supply suction buckets for DONG Energy’s Borkum Riffgrund 2 offshore wind farm in the German North Sea.
The 56 turbine wind farm will use two types of steel foundations, suction bucket jackets and monopiles. The suction bucket design consists of three legs welded together in a jacket structure, standing on top of three suction buckets anchoring the foundation to the seabed.
Poland-based ST3 Offshore is to fabricate 20 suction bucket jackets for the wind farm.
As part of this agreement, H&W will manufacture and export a number of suction buckets, supporting up to 80 jobs in Belfast. The suction buckets manufactured by H&W will be exported from the UK to ST3’s advanced serial manufacturing plant in Stettin, Poland, for fitting prior to foundation installation in the German Bight during 2018.
Northern Ireland’s International Trade Minister Greg Hands , said: “This multi-million pound contract is a boost for high-skilled manufacturing jobs in Northern Ireland, and further demonstrates the UK’s leadership in offshore wind. Harland & Wolff’s innovative designs and expertise can help make renewable energy projects like Borkum Riffgrund 2 possible, as UK exports help tackle climate change across the world.”
Located 54km off the coast of Lower Saxony, next to Borkum Riffgrund 1, the 450MW Borkum Riffgrund 2 will comprise 56 MHI Vestas 8MW turbines, expected to be fully commissioned in 2019.
Jonathan Guest, Director of Business Development at Harland and Wolff, said: ”H&W is delighted to be involved in the Borkum Riffgrund 2 project, continuing to support manufacturing jobs in Belfast and contributing to UK exports. We are committed to the retention of manufacturing skills in Northern Ireland and projects such as this enable us to both develop our in-house capability and support the local supply chain.”