Offshore works are underway at the 370MW Norther offshore wind farm off the coast of Belgium.
Van Oord has contracted DEME subsidiary Tideway to strengthen the sites for the project’s Sif-made foundations.
Tideway is installing large stones to protect against “raveling”, the Norther NV joint venture said.
The vessels Flintstone and Rollingstone have been deployed to carry out the work. They are equipped with a downpipe system and an underwater robot to place the rocks.
Rollingstone will place the 120-kilogram stone blocks through a separated large diameter pipe.
About 80,000 tonnes of filter material and 45,000 tonnes of stones will be installed at the sites.
Van Oord is scheduled to start foundation installation in July once the current work is completed.
Norther project director Dennis Sanou said: “This is one of the first visible activities of the construction of the Norther offshore wind farm.”
Norther will consist of 44 8.4MW MHI Vestas V164 turbines and is being developed by a joint venture of Eneco, Mitsubishi Corp subsidiary Diamond Generation Europe and Belgium energy company Elicio.
Image: reNEWS
Norther rocks off Belgium
By EBS