Van Oord has installed the final of the 77 monopile foundations on the Borssele III and IV offshore wind farm in the Dutch North Sea.
Van Oord’s installation vessel Aeolus transported the monopile foundations from Sif’s terminal at Maasvlakte 2 in the Port of Rotterdam. The vessel then installed them at the site some 22 kilometres off the coast of Zeeland.
Aeolus installed the first monopile foundation at the wind farm at the end of October 2019.
”The Borssele III & IV project reached a milestone with the installation of the 77 foundations. The work was executed within planning in 6 months,” Roeland Borsboom , Project Director at Blauwwind, said.
”Despite the extra precautions in connection with coronavirus, we were able to continue the project, taking necessary measures and complying with governmental guidelines. We are proud of the Blauwwind project team and their partners, including Van Oord, for their contribution to the rapid construction of the wind farm. ”
Van Oord’s cable-laying vessel Nexus has also installed four out of the twelve cable strings. The project will shortly start with the installation of the wind turbines supplied by MHI Vestas, Van Oord said.
The 731.5 MW Borssele III and IV wind farm will feature 77 MHI Vestas V164 9.5 MW wind turbines slated for commissioning in 2021.
The Blauwwind consortium comprising Partners Group (45%), Shell (20%), DGE (15%), Eneco Group (10%), and Van Oord (10%) is developing the project.
Van Oord is the Balance of Plant (BoP) contractor responsible for the engineering, procurement, and construction of the wind farm’s foundations and inter-array cables .