With the start of scour protection activities, the offshore construction work for the first phase of RWE’s 1.6 GW Nordseecluster wind project has commenced.
The Nordseecluster A offshore wind farm is the first phase of the 1.6 GW Nordseecluster development that will be built north of the island of Juist in Germany.
The works are being carried out by Van Oord’s flexible fallpipe vessel Stornes , which is equipped with a dynamic positioning system, a flexible fallpipe, and in-house-developed ROV technology.
This allows the company to install the scour protection with high precision and efficiency, even at greater water depths, said Van Oord.
The scour protection provides full protection for the monopile foundations that will be installed later this year, also by Van Oord.
In a later phase, the company’s Boreas offshore installation vessel will be deployed to perform the foundation installation, marking Nordseecluster as its first project. The jack-up vessel, with a crane capacity of more than 3,000 tonnes, can install up to 20 MW wind turbines at sea.
The 660 MW Nordseecluster A will comprise 45 monopile foundations, of which 44 will carry the Vestas V236-15.0 MW wind turbines and one to support the project’s offshore substation.
The first monopiles, manufactured by Dajin Heavy Industry, have already arrived at the Buss Terminal in the port of Eemshaven, the Netherlands.
Nordseecluster A is expected to be fully connected to the grid in 2027.
The second phase, Nordseecluster B, will add a further 900 MW of capacity, with commercial operation expected to begin in early 2029.
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