Ballast Nedam has contracted Marine Coordination Services BV (MCS) to support their foundation construction activities for the nearshore part of the Windplanblauw wind energy project in Flevoland, the Netherlands.
As part of the project, 24 wind turbines will be installed in two rows in the IJsselmeer Lake, just outside a dyke.
The nearshore wind turbines will replace the 28 wind turbines on Vattenfall’s Irene Vorrink wind farm which is currently being dismantled.
Windplanblauw is a wind farm repowering project of Vattenfall and SwifterwinT, a local initiative of more than 170 agricultural entrepreneurs, residents, and turbine owners from the area.
Under the project, 74 wind turbines erected in the municipalities of Dronten and Lelystad are being replaced by 61 larger, more powerful units with a joint installed capacity of over 335 MW. Of these, 37 will be on land, and 24 in the IJsselmeer.
Work on the onshore turbines has already commenced, and Windplanblauw is expected to be operational in the last quarter of 2023.
Ballast Nedam, the Balance of Plant contractor for the project, selected MCS to support the foundation installation activities on the water.
”Ballast Nedam has entered into a partnership with MCS because MCS thinks beyond its own boundaries,” said Mohamad Saad , Package Manager Ballast Nedam Infra Projects.
”We are extremely pleased with the flexibility and broad deployment of MCS in terms of both equipment and personnel.”
MCS’s scope includes, amongst others, logistics and communication support and the provision of crew transfer vessels (CTVs). MCS will provide 5 CTVs in total, each able to carry twelve passengers and three crew. The vessels will be operating from the Flevo Marina port near Lelystad. Activities in the IJsselmeer started in April and will last until 2023.
Jens Doeksen , Managing Owner of MCS, said: ”We are excited to be working on the IJsselmeer again, following our support activities for Windpark Fryslân. For the nearshore wind turbines at Windplanblauw, Ballast Nedam is implementing a unique, in-house designed cofferdam foundation concept. We are working closely together to ensure an efficient, safe and secure project realisation.”