The crane vessel Aeolus is equipped with a 1,600-tonne Huisman crane. (Photograph: PAS Publicaties)
TOP POSITION IN OFFSHORE WIND ENERGY SECTOR by Paul Schaap, PAS Publicaties
The Dutch offshore contractors and their suppliers are forever expanding their position in the offshore wind energy sector. They are closely involved in the construction and development of practically every offshore wind farm and wind project, not only in Western European waters but also in other parts of the world, including America and Asia. Their extensive knowledge and experience acquired in Europe is currently being deployed globally. Frontrunners are Royal Van Oord, Royal Boskalis Westminster and DEME Offshore. In 2018, just as in previous years, Van Oord launched a series of new projects. In mid-April, in the German sector of the North Sea, the company deployed its cable-laying vessel Nexus in the construction of the Borkum Riffgrund 1 Offshore Wind Farm. In total, the job entailed the laying of 110 kilometres of cable. Van Oord was also responsible for the laying of the interlink cables between Borkum Riffgrund 1 and Borkum Riffgrund 2. The new Dig-It trencher was deployed for the very first time to entrench the cables. The project was successfully concluded, later in the year. Another project in the German sector that involved Van 26
NETHERLANDS SUPPLIERS CATALOGUE 2019
Oord was the construction of the Deutsche Bucht Offshore Wind Farm. The first monopile foundations for this project, each weighing 1,100 tonnes, were installed in September by the jack-up vessel Seajacks Scylla. The monopiles and the transition pieces were supplied from the German port of Cuxhaven. As part of the same project, Van Oord was called upon to install two special monobucket foundations. Within this pilot project, two wind turbines each generating 8.4 MW were installed on these foundations. Off the coast of Belgium, Van Oord was involved in the installation of the foundations, inter-array cables and export cables for the
