Kaskasi monopiles to be hammered in with CAPE Holland’s vibro tool

Seaway 7 has signed a contract with CAPE Holland for the supply of Vibro Lifting Tool (VLT) for the installation of monopile foundations at the Kaskasi offshore wind farm.

According to CAPE Holland, this will be the first offshore wind project whose monopiles will be driven to final penetration with a vibro hammer only.

For the Kaskasi project, multiple vibro hammers will be linked together to provide a total of 1,920 kilogram-metres and a specially developed clamping system will be used to create an interface between the Vibro Lifting Tool and the flanged top of the monopiles.

“We have always believed to be able to provide an installation tool which can significantly reduce overall costs of the installation of monopiles for offshore wind farms and we’re very happy that all our hard work over the previous years is now paying off and creating the opportunity for us to prove this”, said Laurens de Neef, CAPE Holland CEO.

Seaway 7 will carry out the transport and installation of the offshore substation foundation, 38 wind turbine monopile foundations and inner array grid cables under a contract between innogy and Subsea 7, Seaway 7’s parent company.

The foundation installation work will start in the third quarter of 2021.

Seaway 7 already used CAPE Holland’s vibro equipment on multiple projects. In 2012, the vibro hammer was deployed on an offshore wind project for the first time to drive the monopiles to a stable depth at the Riffgat offshore wind farm site. Last year, the offshore construction company also used the vibro tool on an offshore wind project in Taiwan, CAPE Holland said.