Second Walney Extension Offshore Substation Leaves Hoboken

The second offshore substation built by the Engie Fabricom/Iemants consortium for DONG Energy’s 660MW Walney Extension wind farm has set sail from the Engie Fabricom site in Hoboken, Belgium, bound for the wind farm in the Irish Sea.

Standing 35 metres tall and weighing in at 2,900 tonnes, the Walney 4 is the second substation to leave the ENGIE Fabricom site this month.

The substation was accompanied by its 48-metre-high jacket foundation. The jacket was fully assembled on the Iemants site in Vlissingen in the Netherlands and then transported to Hoboken earlier this month.

Race Bank 1 and Walney 3 also left Belgium earlier this month.

The 367.2MW Walney wind farm in the Irish Sea, 19km off the coast of Cumbria, already comprises two substations. It is currently being expanded to include two additional substations, making it the largest offshore wind farm in Europe, with the expansion due to commission in 2018.

DONG Energy awarded the contract for building five substations to the Engie Fabricom/Iemants consortium. Engie Fabricom is in charge of the entire construction and commissioning on site, while Iemants is responsible for the steel construction work on the five substations and their jacket foundations. The Burbo Bank and Race Bank 2 substations were shipped last year.

Engie Axima – the expert in HVAC, cooling and fire safety within the Engie Group – was also involved in building the five substations ordered by Dong Energy. It delivered five rooftop units with a capacity of 4000 m³/h for treating fresh air, as well as 56 air conditioning cabinets and associated condensing units.