Van Oord installs all 87 foundations at Walney offshore wind farm, UK

Dutch offshore contractor Van Oord has completed the installation of all 87 turbine foundations at the extension of the Walney offshore wind farm in the Irish Sea, UK.

Transportation and installation of the foundations was handled by Van Oord’s jack-up vessel Aeolus and crane vessel Svanen and took 4.5 months.

The Walney wind park, located off the coast of Cumbria, is owned by Danish group Dong Energy.

 Van Oord's crane vessel Svanen

Specialised equipment
For this extension project in the Irish Sea, Van Oord deployed its 8,000-tonne heavy lift installation vessel Svanen to install 56 monopiles.

The other 31 monopiles, as well as the transition pieces, were installed by offshore installation vessel Aeolus.

The Walney extension project included Aeolus’ first successful floating installation of transition pieces.

Van Oord's Aeolus in jack-up mode

Debut of floating mode
After installation of monopiles and transition pieces in jack-up mode on solid sea bed, the Aeolus switched to its floating mode to finish the remaining transition pieces where the sea bed was less firm.

For its debut in the floating mode, the Aeolus benefited from recent improvement in the accuracy of dynamic positioning to maintain the vessel's exact position in the water within 15 cm.

New milestone
‘With the completion of the Walney extension project, Van Oord has reached a new milestone’, said project manager Floren Verweij at Van Oord.

‘Thanks to the commitment and expertise of the project team, offshore installation vessel Aeolus’s debut in the floating installation of transition pieces has been very successful.’

Dong expects the 659-MW wind farm to begin operations in late 2018.

This news item was originally published on the website of Van Oord.

Read also on this website
● Fugro to perform seabed surveys at 660MW wind farm off Cumbria coast, UK, 15 March 2016
● Van Oord signs EPC contract to build largest Dutch offshore wind farm, 15 May 2014
● Van Oord acquires Ballast Nedam Offshore, 28 November 2014

More information
Van Oord
Rotterdam, the Netherlands
+31 88 826 00 00
www.vanoord.com

Offshore installation vessel Aeolus - How does it work?