Euro-Rigging Kits Seajacks Scylla Out with Pile Gripper Frame

Dutch heavy mechanical engineering specialist Euro-Rigging has today delivered a pile gripper frame to be installed on Seajacks Scylla at the port of IJmuiden.

Seajacks Scylla, the world’s largest wind turbine installation vessel, arrived at the port of IJmuiden on 14 March in preparation of its first assignment, the installation of 67 monopiles, each one weighing more than 1,300 tonnes, at the 400MW Veja Mate offshore wind farm in the North Sea.

Together with its subcontractors, Doedijns and Breman, Euro-Rigging built a tailor-made offshore structure for placing the foundation pile of the wind turbine correctly, which has today been raised on board Seajacks Scylla.

Roderik van Seumeren, who is actively involved in Euro-Rigging through its holding company MeeMaken, described the pile gripper frame as ”a hand that you use to hold a nail in place in order to hammer in a beam.”

”Except what is concerned here is a hand with a weight of 625 tons, and the nail is a foundation pile that is 90 metres long and weighs 1,400 tons. The hammer weighs 750 tons. I am extraordinarily proud of the performance of the team of Euro-Rigging together with Doedijns and Breman: within seven months, on time, within budget and according to specifications of the client,” Van Seumeren said.

The Veja Mate wind farm will be built some 95km north west of the island of Borkum in the German exclusive economic zone (EEZ) and will be connected via the existing Borwin 2 grid hub. Full commercial operation is slated for the end of 2017. With a production of approximately 1.6 TWh per year, once complete it will be among the largest offshore wind farms in the world.

Photos: Euro-Rigging