Jan De Nul Group's heavy-lift vessel, Les Alizés, has successfully installed the initial set of 83 monopile foundations for Orsted's Borkum Riffgrund 3 offshore wind farm in Germany. The foundations, crafted by Steelwind in Nordenham and Bladt Industries' Lindø plant in Denmark, boast dimensions of up to 100 meters in length and a weight of up to 1,500 tonnes.
Scheduled for next year, the wind farm will feature a new generation of turbines, the SG 11.0-200 DD offshore wind turbine, mounted on these foundations. This installation initiative promptly followed the completion of the final monopile foundation for the 253MW Gode Wind 3 project.
Les Alizés, having demonstrated its capabilities during the Gode Wind 3 foundation installation, positioned a total of 24 monopiles for the forthcoming turbines, including one for the offshore substation's monopile and topside.
Peter De Pooter, Manager of Offshore Renewables at Jan De Nul Group, expressed enthusiasm, stating, “We look forward to continuing working with Orsted on Germany's largest offshore wind farm to date.”
Jörg Kubitza, Managing Director of Orsted in Germany, emphasized the significance of Borkum Riffgrund 3, noting that it sets new industry standards in terms of capacity and business model. He mentioned, “This enables us to directly support our corporate customers with their decarbonization. This is only possible on this scale using renewable energies through offshore wind energy.”
See also: Orsted acquires remaining stake in 1,100 MW Ocean Wind 1 project off New Jersey coast
Borkum Riffgrund 3 represents Orsted's first wind farm in Germany constructed without an offshore substation (OSS). The innovative connection concept, developed in collaboration with transmission system operator TenneT, establishes a direct connection of the wind turbines to the DolWin5 offshore converter platform via 66 kV export cables.
The wind farm, alongside Gode Wind 3, will contribute to a combined capacity exceeding 1.1GW, significantly boosting Orsted's installed offshore wind power capacity in Germany to around 2.5GW. Both projects are slated for commissioning in 2024 and 2025, respectively.
