Van Oord has installed the first monopile at Ecowende’s 760MW Hollande Kust West wind farm off the coast of the Netherlands.
The installation is the first of 52 monopiles at the array, from a joint venture between Shell, Eneco and Chubu.
Van Oord is responsible for a wide scope of work: transporting and installing all foundations, laying and connecting the inter-array cables, transporting the wind turbine generators (WTGs), and designing and installing scour protection.
The first monopile installation was executed by Boreas, Van Oord’s new offshore wind installation vessel, which features a 3,310-tonne crane and is built to operate on methanol.
The array will feature monopiles in two diameters (8.8m and 9.3m), both produced by SIF.
Tjalling de Bruin, CEO of Ecowende, said: “Installation of the first monopile is a major milestone for Ecowende.
“Not only does it bring us a step closer to the wind farm’s realisation, it also allows us to test innovative installation techniques minimising underwater noise.”
“We are proud to work with partners such as Van Oord who fully embrace our ambition to build a wind farm in harmony with nature and accelerate the large-scale roll-out of offshore wind in the Netherlands and beyond.”