Wind Turbine Installation at Moray West to Start in April

March 19, 2024, by Adrijana Buljan

The installation of Siemens Gamesa’s 14 MW wind turbines at the Moray West offshore wind farm site in Scotland is scheduled to start in April. The vessel chartered to install the turbines, Cadeler’s Wind Orca, has just arrived in Esbjerg, Denmark, to mobilise for the project after completing a crane upgrade in the Netherlands.

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Wind Orca Arrives for Mobilisation in Esbjerg After Crane Upgrade
Foundation Installation Well Underway; First SG 14-222 DD Components Already Rolled Out

According to the latest Notice of Operations from the Moray West project team, issued on 18 March, the wind turbine installation campaign at the Scottish project site will run from April to October this year.

The 882 MW offshore wind farm, developed by Ocean Winds, will comprise 60 wind turbines and will be the first project to feature Siemens Gamesa’s SG 14-222 DD model. The turbines will utilise the PowerBoost feature and have a capacity of 14.7 MW each.

Wind Orca Arrives for Mobilisation in Esbjerg After Crane Upgrade

Under a contract signed in 2022, Moray West’s 60 Siemens Gamesa units will be installed by the jack-up vessel Wind Orca, which the vessel owner Cadeler sent for a crane upgrade in Schiedam, the Netherlands, that has now been completed.

Cadeler contracted GustoMSC to design, fabricate, deliver, and install new cranes for its O-class vessels, Wind Osprey and Wind Orca, and its compatriot Semco Maritime for the vessel modifications to upgrade the main crane capacity on the jack-up duo. The work in Schiedam was also supported by Mammoet, which assembled its PTC210-DS ring crane for the crane replacements on the two offshore wind installation vessels.

The new leg cranes are fully electric-driven and have a 1,600-tonne lifting capacity, making them ready to install and service next-generation wind turbines with single-unit capacities of 14 MW and beyond.

“After successfully removing the 1,200 t crane, installing the new 1,600 t leg crane, and completing commissioning and load testing, Wind Orca is now poised for the installation of next-generation wind turbines, up to 20 MW. Following a remarkable five-month upgrade, the vessel has taken center stage in the wind industry with its state-of-the-art crane. Embarking on its journey to Esbjerg for mobilization, Wind Orca will soon start offshore wind turbine installation in Scotland,” Cadeler said via social media on 18 March.

Wind Orca (in the foreground) in Schiedam; Photo source: Cadeler via LinkedIn

According to AIS data available online, Wind Orca left Schiedam on 15 March and arrived in Esbjerg on 18 March.

Foundation Installation Well Underway; First SG 14-222 DD Components Already Rolled Out

The operations notice from the Moray West project team on 18 March also shows the inter-array cable installation is now well underway, as is the work on installing the monopiles and transition pieces (TPs), with around 15 more monopiles and 50 transition pieces left to be installed.

The inter-array cabling is being performed by Seaway7 using the vessels Seaway Aimery and Olymip Orion, while the foundations are being installed by DEME, whose jack-up Orion is installing the monopiles and Apollo is placing TPs.

Boskalis, which carried out several types of work at Moray West, including part of the foundation installation, has now completed its activities at the Scottish project site.

Meanwhile, Siemens Gamesa has already produced a bulk of wind turbine components for Moray West. including the first 108-metre-long wind turbine blades that left its manufacturing factory in Hull, UK, in February, and the first 14 MW wind turbine nacelles at its Cuxhaven plant in Germany.

Siemens Gamesa has chosen the Port of Nigg in the Cromarty Firth, Scotland, for the wind turbine marshalling and pre-assembly work. The port is also serving the installation of TPs under a separate contract.

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The 882 MW Moray West offshore wind farm, located approximately 22.5 kilometres from the Caithness coastline, is scheduled to generate its first power this year and to be fully operational in 2025.

Once commissioned, Moray West is expected to meet the electricity requirements of about 650,000 households in Scotland for 25 years.