Jan De Nul jack-up Voltaire has been contracted for turbine installation for SSE and Equinor’s 3600MW Dogger Bank offshore wind farms off the east coast of England.
The vessel, which will have a lifting capacity of over 3000 tonnes, will transport GE’s 12MW Haliade-X machines to the three 1.2GW projects – Creyke Beck A, Creyke Beck B and Teesside A – located 130km off the Yorkshire coast.
Voltaire will enter into service in 2022 and is named after the pioneering European Enlightenment philosopher.
It will be fitted with an advanced exhaust filtering system by means of a selective catalytic reduction system and a diesel particulate filter making it an ultra-low emission vessel.
SSE Renewables director of capital projects Paul Cooley said: “Dogger Bank is an industry leading project and we, along with our joint venture partners Equinor, are very excited to welcome another industry leader, Jan De Nul Group, to the development of the largest offshore wind farm in the world.”
Equinor vice president for Dogger Bank Halfdan Brustad said: “Dogger Bank represents the leading edge of the offshore wind industry.
“We and SSE Renewables believe the addition of Jan De Nul Group’s ground-breaking vessel to our project will drive the industry forward and make it more competitive.”
Dogger Bank Wind Farms project director Steve Wilson said: “Jan De Nul Group has a proven track record of transporting and installing new generation offshore wind turbines at scale.
“Delivering Dogger Bank will be a testament to the skills and expertise of all of our partners in the supply chain, so we are very pleased to welcome Jan De Nul Group on board.
“Bringing the Voltaire vessel into the Dogger Bank project means we now have the most innovative turbines on the market being installed by the largest jack up vessel ever seen in the industry.”
Jan De Nul Group offshore director Philippe Hutse said: “We are delighted to be selected as the transport and installation contractor for the next generation of turbines at Dogger Bank.
“The size of this giant project coincides perfectly with the capacities of our jack-up vessel Voltaire.
“It underlines that we are entering in to a new phase of OWF construction. We are proud to be at the forefront of offshore wind construction at Dogger Bank.”
The project is now moving towards final investment decision, which is expected in 2020.
SSE Renewables will lead the development and construction phases of Dogger Bank wind farms and Equinor will lead on operations.