Ryder Geotechnical Limited has supported Jan De Nul with the delivery of a spudcan boulder interaction study for the 605MW Kriegers Flak offshore wind farm in the Danish Baltic Sea.
The study quantified the risk of surface and buried boulders to the Vole au vent jack-up installation vessel, thereby, enabling the boulder removal requirements to be determined, removing unnecessary conservatism, reducing offshore exposure hours and reducing seabed disturbance, Tekmar Group, Ryder Geotechnical’s parent company, said.
The key to the success of the project was the development and implementation of the boulder removal criteria specific to the site conditions and spudcan make-up, criteria developed by Ryder, according to Tekmar. This enabled the boulder removal requirements to be reduced where the ground conditions were less onerous and the risk of spudcan damage could be managed.
Tekmar Group’s, Tekmar Energy, has recently secured a contract for the supply of 150 TekLink® cable protection systems and patented sealed hang of clamps for Vattenfall’s Kriegers Flak wind farm.
Kriegers Flak will comprise 72 Siemens Gamesa 8.4MW wind turbines installed 15-40 kilometres off Denmark’s east coast.
Vattenfall plans to start offshore construction as soon as the Danish Energy Agency grants the final approval for the project, which is expected in early 2020.