Cosco Shipyard has held a keel laying ceremony for Cadeler’s first X-class wind turbine installation vessel in Qidong, China.
The vessel is one of two X-Class models being constructed by Cosco under the $651m (€547m) agreement.
The new vessels will, upon completion, be the largest in the industry, according to Cadeler.
The first X-class vessel will be ready by Q3/2024 and has already been chartered for its first project by Siemens Gamesa.
It will be used at one of the largest offshore windfarms in the world – the 1.4GW “Sofia” offshore wind power park in the North Sea, owned by RWE.
For this project Cadeler will assist Siemens Gamesa with the transport and installation of one hundred 14MW wind turbines.
The project will be located on Dogger Bank 195 km from the nearest point on the UK’s North East coast.
The 14MW turbines are expected be the largest wind turbines in the world at the time of installation.
One of the vessels will also be deployed by Orsted to install turbines at the Hornsea 3 offshore wind farm in the UK.