Van Oord to install monopiles, inter-array cables at Sofia offshore wind farm

RWE has selected Van Oord as the preferred supplier for the engineering, procurement, construction and installation (EPCI) of monopile foundations and array cables for the 1.4 GW Sofia offshore wind project in the UK.

Van Oord will deploy its offshore installation vessel Aeolus to install the 100 TP-less monopile foundations and the cable-laying vessel Nexus to install 350 kilometres of inter-array cables, and subcontract the fabrication of the foundations and cables.

The company said that it would create a logistics hub on the UK North East coast, off of which Sofia is located, to deliver the comprehensive scope of work through its UK branch MPI Offshore.

“The project will be executed by MPI Offshore from our Stokesley office in Teesside and will deliver excellent opportunities for the local supply chain and labour market and to support the industry’s UK Sector Deal ambitions”, said Pieter van Oord, CEO of Van Oord.

The 1.4 GW wind farm, to be built on Dogger Bank in the central North Sea 195 kilometres from the North East coast, will feature 100 Siemens Gamesa 14 MW turbines. Onshore construction of the project is expected to start early next year with the onshore converter station, offshore construction is planned to start in 2024 and the commissioning is scheduled for 2026.

Van Oord said it will begin the work on the foundation and inter-array package after the project’s financial investment decision in Q1 2021.

The announcement of the preferred supplier for the foundations and inter-array cables has now completed the main packages for the Sofia offshore wind farm, with other preferred suppliers being Prysmian for the project’s export cable, a consortium of GE’s Grid Solutions and Sembcorp Marine for the HVDC transmission system, and Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy for the offshore wind turbines.