A joint venture of Engie Solutions and Smulders’ subsidiary Iemants has started cutting the first steel for the topside of the offshore transformer station for the Hollandse Kust West Alpha wind farm zone off the Netherlands.
Steel fabrication for the TenneT structure has started at Smulders’ facility in Hoboken, Belgium, with nodes and plate girders cut.
Fabrication will now continue at the Smulders’ facilities in Arendonk and Balen, as well as Hoboken.
The joint venture started the design works for the topside, jacket and piles after the contract award.
Assembly of the topside will start at the Smulders’ facilities in July 2021 after which the topside deck sections will be transferred to the Engie Solutions yard in Hoboken for installation of all the auxiliary systems and the integration of the free issued medium and high voltage equipment starting in the fourth quarter of 2021.
Final outfitting, commissioning and testing will take place from March 2022 until sail away in the summer of 2023, after which the topside will be installed offshore.
Jacket foundation fabrication will start shortly, with offshore installation to take place in the summer of 2022.
Hollandse Kust West Alpha is scheduled to be fully offshore commissioned in the third quarter of 2023.
Engie Solutions – Iemants JV project manager Hans Schipper said: “With the cutting of the first steel, an important project milestone has been achieved on time.
“We are confident that also on this project we will meet the jointly established project goals and continue the excellent cooperation with the teams of TenneT, its suppliers of materials and the certifying authority.”
TenneT project manager for the Hollandse Kust Noord, West Alpha platform Guus Siteur said: “We are pleased with these first physical steps in the construction of the offshore transformer station Hollandse Kust West Alpha; the second Dutch transformer station to be built by the Engie/Iemants combination.”