Van Oord to install Windanker offshore wind turbine foundations, inter-array cables

Iberdrola has contracted Van Oord for the installation of wind turbine foundations and the supply and installation of inter-array cables for the Windanker offshore wind farm that the Spanish renewable energy company is building in the German sector of the Baltic Sea.

Under the contract, the Dutch offshore construction specialist will transport and install 21 XL monopiles and transition pieces for the 21 Siemens Gamesa 15 MW wind turbines. Van Oord will also be in charge of the design, supply and installation of the wind farm’s inter-array cable grid.

For the installation of the monopiles, Van Oord will deploy its heavy-lift installation vessel Svanen, which is no stranger to offshore wind construction in the Baltic Sea, having already worked on the Baltic 2, Arkona, Danish Kriegers Flak, and Baltic Eagle offshore wind farms, the latter being also a project by Iberdrola.

By the time Svanen is deployed on Iberdrola’s third offshore wind farm in the Baltic Sea, the vessel will have undergone a major upgrade to handle the next-generation monopile foundations.

Currently undergoing retrofitting in Schiedam, the Netherlands, the vessel will be ready for operation in the third quarter of 2024. The first project Svanen will be deployed on post-upgrade is the Baltic Power offshore wind farm.

For the installation of 29 kilometres of inter-array cables at the Windanker project site, Van Oord will use its cable-laying vessel (CLV) Nexus, with the trencher Dig-It tasked with burying the cables to the required depth. Both Nexus and Dig-It have also worked in the Baltic Sea on the Baltic Eagle offshore wind farm.

The 21 wind turbines at Iberdrola’s 315 MW Windanker offshore wind farm will be installed by Havfram, with the work scheduled to start in the summer of 2026. Windanker is expected to enter full operation by the end of the same year.