First foundation at Deutsche Bucht offshore wind farm laid by Van Oord

Van Oord, a Dutch dredging and marine contractor, said that it has laid the first foundation at the 269MW Deutsche Bucht offshore wind farm in the German North Sea under a balance of plant contract given by Northland Power.

Located 95km northwest of the Borkum island in Germany, the Deutsche Bucht offshore wind farm is being constructed with an investment of €1.4 billion in the German Bight.

Van Oord said that the installation of the foundation marks the start of the construction phase of the German offshore wind farm at sea. It further revealed that the installation was carried out at a depth of approximately 40m under water with the foundation having a monopile fitted with a transition piece.

Jens Poulsen – Project Director of Northland Deutsche Bucht, commenting on the milestone of the Deutsche Bucht offshore wind farm project, said: “We are very pleased to have achieved this important milestone. Thanks to the committed Deutsche Bucht project team and our experienced general contractor, Van Oord, the offshore building phase of the wind farm started on schedule.”

Under its contract, Van Oord is responsible for the design, engineering, procurement, construction and installation of the foundations and also for the inter array cables and offshore high voltage station.

The Dutch firm will also handle the transportation of the wind turbines of the Deutsche Bucht offshore wind farm which will constitute a total of 33 wind turbines.

Out of the 33 turbines, 31 of them will come up on monopoles, while the remaining two will be pilot wind turbines with a combined capacity of 17MW that will be installed on mono buckets in the second quarter of 2019.

The Deutsche Bucht offshore wind farm in the German North Sea will feature V164-8.0 MW wind turbines from MHI Vestas. Photo courtesy of MHI Vestas Offshore Wind A/S.

In August 2017, MHI Vestas bagged a contract to deliver 31 of its V164-8.0 MW wind turbines to the German offshore wind farm.

Targeted to begin operations in the second half of 2019, the Deutsche Bucht offshore wind farm will be able to meet the power consumption needs of nearly 328,000 households.