The jacket foundation for the 402MW Dudgeon offshore wind substation sailed away from Sembmarine SLP’s fabrication yard in Lowestoft yesterday.
Sembmarine SLP said the 1500-tonne structure was moved out of the harbour on a barge by three tugs.
The barge was met by sea-going tug Pegasus just north of Lowestoft at West Holme buoy where it was handed over to Seaway Heavy Lifting (SHL).
The tug towed the jacket 100km to the Dudgeon site, some 32km off Cromer in Norfolk, where it awaits the arrival of SHL’s installation crane vessel Stanislav Yudin from Holland.
The jacket will be lifted into place by the anchored Yudin’s crane and sunk into the seabed using suction bucket technology, the first time it has been used on an offshore substation in UK waters.
The substation’s four-deck topside is due for load-out and sail away in July and August, Sembmarine SLP said.
Sembmarine SLP was contracted to work with Siemens Transmission and Distribution to design and build the offshore substation for Dudgeon owners Statoil, Statkraft and Masdar.
Image: the Dudgeon jacket being moved by the three tugs (Sembmarine SLP/www.chpv.co.uk)
