Van Oord’s heavy-lift installation vessel Svanen has installed the first of 50 monopiles for the 476MW Baltic Eagle offshore wind farm, off Germany.
Following the installation of the offshore substation (OSS) in February 2023, the project’s developer, Iberdrola, is now entering the core stage of the Baltic Eagle construction phase.
Svanen is working off the island of Rügen in the offshore wind farm, which is located 30km north-east of the German island of Rügen and covers a 40 square kilometre area.
On the basis of a special feeder concept, the monopiles of the Rostock-based company EEW SPC are towed from the Port of Rostock out to the construction site and positioned upright by the gripper.
The steel piles with a diameter of between 8.75 metres and 9 metres and a length of between 75 metres and 90 metres are then driven into the seabed.
Transportation of the transition pieces to the storage site in the Port of Mukran also began at the beginning of March.
These transition pieces connect the monopile with the wind turbine and will be deployed during the second quarter of 2023. The laying of the inter-array cables is then planned for later in the year.
“We are pleased to be working with many experienced and professional partners on such a complex offshore project – such as EEW SPC, Windar and Van Oord in this respect,” said managing director of Iberdrola Renovables Germany Iris Stempfle.