OFFSHORE RENEWABLES

Heavy lifter Svanen to drive piles for wind turbines

17 years ago

Ballast Nedam’ s heavy lift vessel Svanen left the port of Rotterdam early this month after being commissioned by Van Oord Dredging and Marine Contractors to drive 56 steel piles for the foundations of the Belwind offshore wind farm off the coast of Zeebrugge (Belgium). This is the first phase of the Belwind project, which will eventually encompass a total of 110 wind turbines.

Once the project is completed the 110 wind turbines will supply power to approximately 350,000 households, meaning a reduction of 540,000 tons of CO2 emissions annually. The offshore wind farm is located on Bligh Bank, a sand bank 46km from the Belgian coast where the sea has a depth of 15m to 37m. This makes Belwind the furthest wind farm to be constructed offshore thus far and it is also in the deepest water.

Ballast Nedam also recently received a contract from the German energy company EnBW for the design and installation of 22 foundations for the Baltic I offshore wind farm. The company said it sees ‘good opportunities’ for further work in the offshore wind turbine market in 2010.