Seajacks Scylla Loads First Deutsche Bucht Steel

The jack-up Seajacks Scylla has left Cuxhaven loaded with the first three monopiles and transition pieces to be installed on the 269MW Deutsche Bucht wind farm in the German North Sea.

The jack-up loaded the first three sets of foundation components at berth no. 4 at the Cuxport Terminal in Cuxhaven.

31 transition pieces for the wind farm have already been supplied to Cuxhaven from Spain on board the Happy Star heavy-lift vessel. The accompanying monopiles, each weighing around 1,100 tonnes, are being transported by barge from Rostock to Cuxhaven just in sequence and are being directly lifted from the barges to the installation vessel.

“By using the ship’s own cranes, it’s possible to complete the project without any shore crane. The fact that this new berth is being used for this project so soon after its completion shows how essential it is,” said Roland Schneider, Head of Business Development at Cuxport.

Cuxport is supporting the Balance of Plant contractor Van Oord at the new heavy-lift berth with a total capacity of 8.5 hectares of space. Rhenus Offshore Logistics takes on the function as port agent for the project, including the customs clearance and the crew changes.

The Deutsche Bucht wind farm is Canadian power producer Northland Power’s third North Sea offshore wind project. The wind farm is located about 95 kilometres northwest of the island of Borkum in the German Exclusive Economic Zone.

Van Oord is responsible for the design, engineering, procurement, construction and installation of the foundations, inter-array cables and offshore substation, and the transport of the wind turbines. MHI Vestas is handling the installation of the turbines. The offshore wind turbines will be connected to the BorWin beta offshore converter station, which is already operating.

The Deutsche Bucht wind farm will have a total of 33 wind turbines, 31 on monopiles and two on so-called Mono Bucket foundations. It is the first time this new type of foundation structure will be tested under commercial operating conditions. The 33 MHI Vestas offshore wind turbines can each generate up to 8.4MW of power.