Heerema Seals Transportation and Installation Deal for Polish Offshore Wind Farms

July 3, 2024, by Adnan Memija

Heerema Marine Contractors has been awarded contracts for the transportation and installation of monopiles and transition pieces, as well as offshore substation jackets and topsides for Bałtyk II and Bałtyk III offshore wind projects in Poland.

The contracts were signed with MFW Baltyk II Sp. z.o.o. and MFW Baltyk III Sp. z.o.o., each a joint venture project owned 50 per cent by Equinor and 50 per cent by Polenergia.

Under the contracts, Heerema Marine Contractors will be responsible for the transportation and installation of 100 monopiles and transition pieces, sourced from European fabrication yards and installed in the Baltic Sea.

The monopiles will be provided by the Dutch company Sif, which will also collaborate with its consortium partner Smulders to manufacture the transition pieces.

In addition, Heerema will handle the transportation and installation of offshore substation jackets and topsides.

For these operations, the company plans to utilise its heavy lift vessel Thialf. According to Heerema, the Thialf’s “advanced capabilities and motion compensated gripper frame make it ideally suited for the complex and demanding tasks associated with these large-scale offshore wind projects”.

The firm signed reservation and preliminary work agreements with MFW Bałtyk II and MFW Bałtyk III for the transport and installation of wind turbine foundations and an offshore substation in April this year.

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The Bałtyk II and Bałtyk III offshore wind farms will each have 50 Siemens Gamesa SG 14-236 DD wind turbines making up for 720 MW of installed capacity per wind farm.

The offshore wind farms are expected to produce first power as early as 2027 while the commercial stage of their use is planned a year later.

In addition to Bałtyk II and Bałtyk III, Equinor and Polenergia are developing the Bałtyk I project, an offshore wind farm that will have a capacity of up to 1,560 MW.