Van Oord Installs First East Anglia ONE Jacket Foundation
On 9 June, Van Oord finished installing the first jacket foundation on the East Anglia ONE offshore wind project. ScottishPower Renewables commissioned Van Oord to function as lead contractor responsible for transport and installation of the offshore wind turbine foundations, including logistics and deployment of the equipment.
The windfarm’s 102 three-legged jacket foundations will be installed at depths of down to 55m in the southern North Sea. East Anglia ONE will have the largest number of three-legged foundations ever installed in a windfarm. The East Anglia ONE offshore wind farm is located 45km southeast of the town of Lowestoft, UK. Its 102 Siemens 7MW wind turbines will ultimately deliver a total of 714MW. Once the wind farm becomes operational in 2020, it will supply green energy to 500,000 households.
Mr Daan Makkink, Project Director at Van Oord, states, “This project makes our expertise in the installation of foundations even broader. So far only a handful of windfarms have been constructed on jacket foundations. Their number will increase in the years ahead because the ideal locations for wind farms built on monopiles – shallow waters with a relatively flat, firm seabed – are filling up fast.”