Van Oord Installs Half of Gemini Turbines

Turbine installation works at the 600MW Gemini offshore wind farm reached a halfway point after the Dutch maritime contractor Van Oord placed the farm’s 75th 4MW Siemens wind turbine into position on Monday, 13 June.

The installation of the 150 4MW Siemens turbines started in February 2016 when Van Oord’s offshore installation vessel, Aeolus, transported the first six turbines from the port of Esbjerg and installed them at the site some 85 kilometres north of the Dutch province of Groningen.

Prior to installing the turbines, Aeolus was deployed, together with Swire Blue Ocean’s Pacific Osprey, to install the 150 turbine foundations at the wind farm.

Gemini’s first turbines started generating electricity by the end of February.

The wind farm is being built on two locations close to each other, Buitengaats and ZeeEnergie, and the full commissioning is expected in 2017.

Gemini wind farm is being jointly developed by Canada’s Northland Power (60% project interest), wind turbine manufacturer Siemens Wind Power (20%), Van Oord (10%) and renewable energy and waste processing company HVC (10%).