54m jacket towed out to Atlantic coast

Built entirely at Navantia Seanergies’ Puerto Real shipyard in Spain, the jacket weighs almost 2,000 tons and is 54 metres in height.

It was loaded out from the south basin of the shipyard onto a transport barge, when detailed adjustment and mooring procedures took place.

Four tugs assisted in towing the massive structure out of the shipyard, including underneath the 1812 Constitution Bridge, which spans the Bay of Cádiz and is 69 metres above the water surface, leaving 15 metres’ clearance for the substation.

Towing such a tall, heavy piece of equipment underneath a bridge and out to sea needed critical coordination between tug masters, vessel crew and port operation teams.

“The Puerto Real shipyard already has a new flat panel manufacturing workshop, equipped with the latest welding technologies and a very high level of automation, an investment that increases its competitiveness both in the naval field and in the green energy sector, particularly for floating structures,” says Navantia Seanergies, the green energy division of Navantia, which bought all of Titanic  builder Harland & Wolff’s shipyards at the end of last year.

The entire offshore substation has now been installed at sea about 17km off Dieppe. DEME installation vessel Gulliver handled deployment and 62 Siemens-Gamesa 8MW wind turbines are now to be connected to the French grid. The wind farm, which is owned by a joint venture between EDPR and ENGIE, Ocean Winds, is expected to be commissioned next year.