GeoSea Chooses KCI Design for EnBW Hohe See Installation Gear

GeoSea has contracted Dutch engineering company KCI the engineers to design seafastenings and related equipment, as well as the upending bucket frame to be used to install the foundations on the 497MW EnBW Hohe See offshore wind farm.

The scope of work includes the design of seafastenings for three monopiles, three transition pieces, three anode cages, the pile driving Hydrohammer, and the Noise Mitigation System.

Everything, except for the monopiles, will be transported vertically in order to make optimum use of the available deck space taking into account the installation vessel’s structure, stability and logistical operations on deck, KCI said.

The monopile upending bucket will be designed by KCI and used to safely bring the monopiles from a horizontal to a vertical position by using a single crane.

Engineering work will be carried out in cooperation with the GeoSea project team in Bremen, Germany, KCI said.

GeoSea and Siemens concluded an EPCI foundation contract for Hohe See in 2016, when Siemens began with the development of project-specific solutions for the 71 foundations. The result was the development of a large monopile design with a length of up to 80m and a weight of up to 1,500t to anchor the wind turbines solidly into the seabed.

After the final investment decision for the project was reached in February 2017, Siemens officially received its first ever order for complete offshore wind farm solutions including the foundations, which will be manufactured by Smulders and Sif.

Offshore construction at the site located 90km north of the German island Borkum is scheduled to start in early 2018, with the commissioning planned for the third quarter of 2019.