Van Oord has installed the first jacket foundation at the East Anglia One offshore wind farm located in the UK North Sea.
The Dutch company has recently chartered Boskalis’s new self-propelled DP2 crane vessel Bokalift 1 for the installation of foundations and pinpiles, while the main installation vessel Sejacks Scylla is expected to begin working on the wind farm at the end of July or the beginning of August.
According to Van Oord, the East Anglia One project will have the largest number of three-legged foundations ever installed on a wind farm, located at depths of down to 55m in the southern North Sea.
“This project makes our expertise in the installation of foundations even broader. So far only a handful of wind farms have been constructed on jacket foundations. Their number will increase in the years ahead because the ideal locations for wind farms built on monopiles – shallow waters with a relatively flat, firm seabed – are filling up fast,” said Daan Makkink , Project Director.
ScottishPower Renewables, the owner of the wind farm, selected Van Oord last year as the lead contractor in charge of transport and installation of the turbine foundations, including logistics and deployment of the equipment.
For the 102-turbine project, 60 jacket foundations and pinpiles are being fabricated by Lamprell at its Jebel Ali and Sharjah yards in the UAE, with the Spanish Navantia and Windar providing the remaining 42 jackets and accompanying pinpiles.
Located 45km offshore Lowestoft, the 714MW East Anglia One wind farm will comprise 7MW Siemens Gamesa turbines expected to be fully operational in 2020.