Universal Foundation is to support Van Oord on the installation of two mono bucket foundations at Northland Power’s 269MW Deutsche Bucht offshore wind farm off the coast of Germany.
The mono buckets will support MHI Vestas V164-8.4MW turbines as part of a project to demonstrate the foundations.
Van Oord is the balance of plant contractor on the Deutsche Bucht project. Universal Foundation has designed the mono buckets, with Sif and Harland & Wolff subcontracted to assist with construction.
Universal Foundation project manager Jesper Uhre Larsen said: “Having delivered the certified design of the two mono buckets to Northland Power, we are naturally pleased to see the project taking FID on the pilot.
“We are excited to continue our efforts on the project working with a professional marine contractor like Van Oord.
“The project teams are working towards the same end goal: a successful installation of the mono bucket foundations in 2019, which will enable further opportunities to lower the cost of offshore wind energy.”
Van Oord package manager of the mono bucket pilot Holger Miara said: “Van Oord is passionate about innovation, marine ingenuity and improving the standards and the environmental impact of the industry.
“It is exciting to be part of the realisation of this pilot and jointly with Universal Foundations and our employer demonstrate the technology in the context of a full-scale commercial project.
“The best part of it is that this installation will result in significantly reduced environmental impact in comparison to usually applied construction methodologies.”
Installation of the mono buckets is expected to start in the second quarter of 2019, with commissioning of the whole wind farm scheduled for the latter part of the same year.
Deutsche Bucht will also comprise 31 monopile foundations supporting V164-8.4MW turbines.