In 2017 a more heavy-duty crane was installed on board Van Oord’s Aeolus. (Photograph: PAS Publicaties)
GROWING VOLUME OF WORK FROM THE RENEWABLES SECTOR by Paul Schaap, PAS Publicaties
In part thanks to the huge volume of knowledge and experience acquired in the offshore oil and gas industry, Dutch offshore contractors and their suppliers have also succeeded in occupying a prominent position in the renewables sector. For example they are involved in the construction of almost all the offshore wind farms in Northwestern Europe. Well-known names among them are EPCI contractors like Royal Boskalis Westminster and subsidiary VBMS, Van Oord, Seaway Heavy Lifting and SPT Offshore. Particularly remarkable is the wide variety of specialist activities for which Dutch contractors are called in. One excellent example is the transport and installation of the massive topsides for the DolWin gamma Offshore Converter Station in the German Bight. For the installation work for this 18,000-tonne topside module, Boskalis subsidiary Dockwise originated and implemented a special float-over method. Equally remarkable is the fact that together with Barge Master, Boskalis has developed a 3D motion compensated drill rig, capable of carrying out drilling work for soil surveys at locations 26
NETHERLANDS SUPPLIERS CATALOGUE 2018
where offshore wind farms are due to be installed. The drill rig is installed on a Barge Master T700 motion compensated platform. Boskalis has also won the contract for the transport and installation of part of the foundations for the Hornsea Offshore Wind Farm Project One. The contractor will be deploying its new installation vessel Bokalift 1 for this project. For its part, the floating sheerlegs Asian Hercules III will be deployed installing the suction bucket foundations for the European Offshore Wind Deployment Centre. Each of these 77 metre-high steel jackets, weighing in at 1800 tonnes, will have to
