On Friday 14th March 2014, it was confirmed that FoundOcean had completed grouting operations on the 48th turbine, of RWE Innogy’s 295 MW capacity Nordsee Ost Offshore Wind Farm.
The wind farm is located 35 kilometres north-east of the island of Helgoland in the German North Sea and sits in water depths of up to 25 meters.
The foundations are four-legged jacket structures, akin to those used in the oil and gas industry, yet engineered to suit the design specifications of an offshore wind turbine. FoundOcean mixed and pumped a total of 2,400 tonnes of cement into the foundations to secure all 48 jackets, and one substation, to the seabed.
FoundOcean continues to innovate new ways in which to solve problems and speed up grouting times offshore and Nordsee Ost was no exception. FoundOcean supplied a specially designed grouting system which allowed grout connections to be made subsea as opposed to the standard above-water method. By doing so, grouting times were greatly reduced as FoundOcean was able to use larger diameter grout hoses which allowed for more efficient material delivery rates.
Jim Bell, Managing Director of FoundOcean comments “Nordsee Ost was already an innovative project to which FoundOcean contributed further innovation by providing its 50 years of grouting expertise for faster and more efficient grouting rates throughout the entire installation schedule.”
Press Release, April 03, 2014; Image: foundocean