Amrumbank West’s meteorological mast was removed from the site in February 2016, as reported by SGS, a Hamburg-based inspection and certification company that supervised the decommissioning at the 302MW offshore wind farm.
Prior to the dismantling, the met mast had been gathering data on wind conditions at the site since April 2005, when it was installed by Hochtief and Germany-based diving contractor Nordseetaucher.
The structure consisted of a monopile, a measurement chamber and a lattice mast on which a variety of measurement instruments were mounted to collect data on the weather, wind conditions, waves, and other factors. The mast was rammed 23 metres into the sandbank located 22 metres below the surface of the water, with the tip of the mast reaching 90 metres above sea level.
SGS supervised the decommissioning project from the first concept on the specific implementation plan to the actual work on site, 36 kilometers south-west of the North Sea island of Amrum. This was the first time a certification company was involved in the dismantling of a wind measuring mast.
In addition, the company has been recently awarded a contract from E.ON to perform periodic inspections of the offshore wind farm’s 80 wind turbines.