Jan De Nul jack-up vessel Vole au Vent has installed the first monopile foundation at the 219MW Northwester 2 offshore wind farm off Belgium.
The structure is 76 metres long, eight metres in diameter and weighs 900 tonnes.
Both monopiles and transition pieces were produced and assembled at Bladt Industries yard in Aalborg, Denmark.
Foundations are then shipped to Ostend in Belgium for load out on the jack-up vessel.
The monopile was hammered 37 metres into the seabed before the TP was bolted on to the foundation.
A double bubble curtain was deployed during hammering to reduce the noise.
Installation of the 23 MHI Vestas V164-9.5MW turbines will start in October, said Parkwind, which is part of the consortium building the wind farm.
The other investor is Sumitomo, with the project scheduled for completion in the first quarter of next year.