First Turbine Stands at Dutch Lake Farm

The first of the 89 Siemens Gamesa 4.3 MW wind turbines has been installed at Windpark Fryslân, the world’s largest wind farm in inland fresh waters.

Located in the IJsselmeer Lake and some six kilometres off the Frisian coast, the Netherlands, the 382.7 MW Windpark Fryslân wind farm is being constructed by the Zuiderzeewind consortium of Van Oord and Siemens Gamesa.

The turbine components are feedered from ships and barges to the Sarens Soccer Pitch, a working platform devised specifically for this project.

Sarens Soccer Pitch consists of 88 Sarens Modular Barges, and the Josef-Rosa barges being positioned in between to create a larger water plain area. 42-metre-long MB2500 beams were installed on top of the barges to spread the load of the main crane across the three barges.

The main crane used is the PC 6800 with a 72-metre main boom and super lift carrier. The barge is equipped with four legs that were pushed into the seabed for stability.

The platform was devised due to the constraints imposed by the shallows in the IJsselmeer and the width of the locks which made it impossible for the standard offshore wind equipment to be used.

Windpark Fryslân is expected to be operational by the summer of 2021.

Ventolines is responsible for the project management of Windpark Fryslân during construction and operations.