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Offshore Renewables Boost Ports Industry
30 Jul 2008
The 25 turbine Burbo Bank Offshore Windfarm was completed this summer on behalf of the Danish Company Dong Energy, culminating a hectic but successful installation period.
All components of the turbines began arriving in the Port of Mostyn in May, where the towers were erected and pre-assembled by technicians from Siemens Windpower A/S, who worked day and night. The hubs and nacelles were assembled and the blades stored until offshore installation began, with the intention to do as much work as possible on shore. Subsea works had already been completed from the Port of Mostyn construction base by MT Hojgaard of Denmark.
Each turbine has an output of 3.6MW. To generate so much power from the wind requires very large turbines and each consists of a 65m high tower weighing 180 tons, a turbine weighing 177 tons and three blades, each 52m long and weighing 19 tons. The tips of the blades stand 137m above sea level.
The Mammoet Van Oord jack-up crane barge ‘Jumping Jack’, towed between Mostyn and Burbo Bank by the tugs ‘Beaver’ and ‘Stevn Artic’, loaded three 60m long turbine towers, three 177 ton nacelles and nine turbine blades per voyage to the installation site. The offshore installations went well, in some instances progressing from ‘jacked up and ready’ to completed in as little as eight to nine hours.
The Burbo Bank project follows the installation of the 30 turbine North Hoyle Windfarm in 2004, constructed by Vestas Wind Technology A/S on behalf of Npower Renewables, using Mostyn as the construction base.
The Port of Mostyn’s managing director Jim O’Toole said that offshore renewable energy projects were now a significant new business sector for Mostyn and for the ports industry generally. He added that the experience gained on these projects, together with the availability of riverside berths and an adjacent 20 acre storage and fitting out site, put Mostyn in a strong position to win future renewable energy construction and maintenance business.
Construction of a third offshore windfarm at Rhyl Flats for Npower Renewables will start next April with a fourth project, the 200 turbine Gwynt-y-Mor Windfarm, scheduled or 2010.
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