The final load of foundations for Borkum Riffgrund 2 have left Szczecin, concluding a ST3 Offshore project for Danish energy concern Ørsted.
ST3 Offshore reports that the load process was very complicated, with the preparation of the documentation alone taking several months. Methods had to be accepted by the insurer, classification societies and of course by the client. Setting the constructions in grilleages required extreme precision and depended on weather conditions, with the first load out taking four days.
The 7th load with the last two jackets left Szczecin on the 12 of June. “We are satisfied with the project’s execution” – said Adam Kowalski, vice president of the management board of ST3 Offshore. At time of writing 18 out of the 20 jackets had been delivered to the client and four of them set on the wind farm.
The jackets produced for this project consist of foundations designed on an equilateral triangle plan (footprint: 28m), 60 m high, set on suction buckets.
The Borkum Riffgrund 2 Offshore Windfarm has a target power generation capacity of 450MW using turbines mounted on a total of 56 steel foundations where 20 foundations are jackets and the remaining 36 foundations are monopiles. It will feature the largest wind turbines in German waters: 56 MHI Vestas 8 MW wind turbines with rotor spans of 164 metres.
The company is negotiating new contracts, but will not disclose details.
By Jake Frith
