Van Oord and the green investment company Typhoon Offshore B.V. signed a letter of intent for the construction of the BARD-Netherlands offshore wind farm.
The wind farm (600 MW output capacity) will consist of two adjoining wind farms with a capacity of 300 MW each, located 55 km north of the island of Schiermonnikoog. The contract value for Van Oord is in the range of EUR 300 and EUR 400 million. The wind farm will supply green electricity to over 1.5 million Dutch consumers, making it by far the largest sustainable energy project in the Netherlands.
Typhoon Offshore will be responsible for financing the project. Once the financial arrangements have been made, the cooperation agreement will be finalised in the final quarter of 2011. According to planning, the construction will start in 2012.
The project is of an exceptionally large scale in terms of financing, size and construction.The wind farm will be built in one of the most harsh environments in the North Sea, with high winds and frequent heavy swell. Van Oord will be responsible for inspecting the sea bed and for producing the detailed engineering design for the wind farm. As the EPC (Engineering, Procurement and Construction) contractor, Van Oord will also be responsible for purchasing materials, installing the foundations and wind turbines as well as laying the cables. The new installation vessel for offshore wind projects will be deployed on the project for a period of two years.
After constructing the Princess Amalia Windpark in the Netherlands and the Belwind project off the Belgian Coast, this is Van Oord’s third major EPC contract. This new project confirms the company’s strong and leading position in offshore wind farm construction in North West Europe.
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Source: vanoord, January 26, 2011