Blaudwind consortium partner Van Oord has installed first monopile foundation at Borssele III & IV offshore wind farm located in the North Sea
Image: First monopile in place at the Dutch offshore wind farm. Photo: Courtesy of Van Oord.
Dutch maritime contracting company Van Oord has completed installing the first monopile foundation at the 731.5MW Borssele III & IV offshore wind farm, located in the Dutch part of the North Sea.
Van Oord is using its offshore installation vessel Aeolus for installing the monopile foundations. A total of 77 monopiles will be installed at the Borssele III & IV and 2 for the innovation site Borssele V.
The wind farm is located 22km off the coast of Province of Zeeland and will be one of the largest offshore Dutch wind farms.
Monopile installation is seen as a major step ahead in the wind farm’s construction, followed by cable laying and installation of the 77 of MHI Vestas 9.5MW turbines. The offshore wind is expected to operational in 2021. When operational, the wind farm will generate enough clean electricity to power 825,000 Dutch homes.
Last August, the Blaudwind consortium that owns the wind farm, reached financial closure for the offshore wind project.
Van Oord will perform the Balance of Plant activities for Borssele III & IV
For the offshore wind project, Van Oord will also perform the Balance of Plant activities, including engineering, supply and construction of the foundations and connecting cables. The Borssele Beta offshore transformer station will be designed and built by TenneT and is scheduled to be operational by the start of 2021.
In December 2016, the Dutch Minister of Economic Affairs had selected Blauwwind II, a consortium of Partners Group (45%), Shell (20%), DGE (15%), Eneco Group (10%) and Van Oord (10%) as the winners of the tender, to build the Borssele Wind Farm Sites III & IV.
Shell and Eneco Group have signed power purchase agreements with the consortium, to buy 50% of the energy generated by the wind farms for a period of 15 years.
Borssele III & IV wind farm is part of the offshore wind roadmap drawn up by the Dutch government to reveal details of the areas designated in the North Sea where offshore wind farms can be built.