IBERDROLA and Navantia have entered into an agreement valued at €160 million, under the terms of which the shipbuilding firm will be completing work for the Wikinger offshore wind farm in Germany at its facilities in Puerto Real (Cádiz) and Fene (A Coruña).
The contract is one of the largest awarded to date by IBERDROLA to a Spanish supplier in the renewable energy industry, marking Navantia’s entry into the strategic offshore wind market.
Some 700 employees at Navantia are expected to be involved in this project over the next two years, guaranteeing the shipyards a significant workload during this period.
This award would also enable Navantia to participate in the procurement process for other offshore wind farms projects being developed by IBERDROLA.
According to the contracts, Navantia’s shipyard in Fene will be building 29 jacket foundations for the same number of wind turbines at the Wikinger facility. This agreement is worth a total of €90 million. Pile installation has been scheduled to begin in the first quarter of 2016, an operation that should be complete by the end of the summer of that year.
The Navantia shipyard in Puerto Real will be in charge of the construction and on-site installation of the offshore substation platforms. The award is worth €70 million and work is expected to run until the spring of 2016.
This steel structure will be about 60 m long and 22 m wide and it will consist of two platforms weighing over 4,800 tonnes. The base will be anchored to the seabed with six piles measuring over 50 m high and weighing 2,400 tonnes.
With a total investment of almost €1.4 billion, Wikinger will have a significant economic impact through the entire supply chain. The Wikinger offshore wind farm is being developed by Iberdrola, off the coast of the island of Rügen where the water depth ranges between 37 and 43 metres.
The location covers an area of roughly 34 km2 where the company plans to install 70 wind turbines, each with a unit capacity of 5 MW, and an offshore substation featuring an innovative design by Iberdrola’s engineering and construction subsidiary.
The 350-megawatt (MW) wind farm will produce enough energy to meet the electricity needs of over 350,000 German households and avoid some 600,000 tonnes of CO 2 emissions per year.
This new offshore installation is the first of its kind by IBERDROLA in Germany. On 30 October, the company opened its first offshore wind farm in the United Kingdom: West of Duddon Sands (389 MW), which will be supplying renewable electricity to some 280,000 British households.
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Press release; Image: IBERDROLA