Offshore staff
PERTH, UK – The semisubmersible crane vessel Saipem 7000 has installed the first turbine jacket foundation at the Seagreen wind farm, 27 km (17 mi) offshore Angus in the North Sea.
The 1.1-GW Seagreen offshore wind farm is a £3-billion ($3.8-billion) joint venture between SSE Renewables and TotalEnergies. SSE Renewables is leading the development and construction of the project, supported by TotalEnergies, and will operate Seagreen on completion.
The installation campaign marks the first-ever gigawatt-scale deployment of suction caisson technology to fix offshore wind turbine foundations to the seabed, according to SSE Renewables.
Lloyd Duthie, Managing Director EPCI Projects at main contractor Seaway 7, said installation of the 114 jackets will continue through 2022. He also said inter array cable installation is expected to start later this year.
Several barges will work in continuous rotation with each other carrying two jackets from Global Energy Group’s facility in the Port of Nigg to the offshore site in the outer Firth of Forth. Each journey from Nigg out to site is expected to take about 36 hours depending on the weather.
More than 50 people are involved each time the barges head out to site including the onshore team, ballast engineer, tug captain, crew, riggers, welders, tow master and pilot.
Each jacket foundation will support a Vestas V164-10 MW turbine.
First power is expected by early 2022. It is projected to enter commercial operation in 2023. When complete Seagreen is expected to be Scotland’s largest, and the world’s deepest, fixed bottom offshore wind farm.
10/19/2021
