First Monopile Installed at Borkum Riffgrund 1

The first of 77 foundations has been installed at Borkum Riffgrund 1 in Germany representing 277 MW when complete.

With the beginning of the year 2014 the construction work continued at the offshore wind farm Borkum Riffgrund 1 in the German North Sea, after installation of the offshore substation in the summer 2013.

Around 37 km from the North of the island of Borkum, the first monopile foundation was installed on Tuesday January 21st.

The Pacific Orca, one of the world’s largest installation vessels, carried out the first four foundations and transition pieces to the construction area. The monopiles have a diameter of around 6 meter and a weight of up to 750 tons and were transported to the construction site by the 161 meter long vessel.

The ideal composition of the soil in the North Sea and the relatively calm weather in January ensured a rapid installation process in the water depth of around 30 meters.

“We had ideal weather conditions during the installation process. Calm sea and a low wind are perfect for the construction work”, mentioned Andreas Elkjaer, Project Foundations Manager at Borkum Riffgrund 1.

During the installation of the monopiles a special noise mitigation screen is used to keep the noise level as low as possible. This double walled system with an internal bubble curtain, that was designed and manufactured for Borkum Riffgrund 1, ensures that the noise at the construction site is kept as low as necessary.

Upon fully operation the 277 MW Borkum Riffgrund 1 will produce green power for approximately 285,000 households in Germany. The wind farm will become fully operational in 2015 and will be operated and maintained from the Lower Saxony harbour Norddeich in Germany.

DONG Energy is currently building Gode Wind 1 + 2 in Germany as well as West of Duddon Sands and Westermost Rough in the UK. These projects have a total capacity of approximately 1,181 megawatt. When constructed, these projects will bring the total constructed capacity up to approximately 3,500 megawatt. DONG Energy has a target to construct 6,500 megawatt by the end of 2020.

[mappress]

Press release, January 22, 2014; Image: dongenergy