Smulders has started the assembly of the suction bucket jacket foundations for Vattenfall’s 92.4MW European Offshore Wind Deployment Centre (EOWDC) in its manufacturing facility in Newcastle, UK.
The Belgian foundations specialist won the contract by Boskalis, which is the overall Tier 1 supplier of the scheme’s offshore balance of plant (BoP) work for the construction and installation (EPCI) of the offshore infrastructure, including the foundations and cabling.
In September, the first top sections, produced at Smulders’ fabrication yard in Hoboken, Belgium, arrived to Newcastle, where the lower sections are being manufactured.
The foundations are expected to be installed at the site some three kilometres off Aberdeen in January 2018, followed by the installation of the 66kV inter-array cables and the export cable.
The eleven MHI Vestas 8.4MW turbines are scheduled for installation in March 2018.
EOWDC, also known as Aberdeen offshore wind farm , is believed to be the first UK offshore wind project to deploy suction bucket jackets of this kind on a large scale.
The wind farm is expected to generate first power in summer 2018 and operate for 20 years.