The first transition pieces (TPs) for the He Dreiht offshore wind project have been transported from Smulders' yard in Hoboken, Belgium to Newcastle, England. The TPs, which are up to 30 meters high and close to 8.5 meters in diameter, will be used to connect the wind turbines to the monopiles. Smulders will carry out the outer welding, coating, and final assembly of the transition pieces at their Newcastle yard.
EnBW has commissioned a joint venture between Sif and Smulders to manufacture the 64 transition pieces for the He Dreiht offshore wind project in the German North Sea. Each TP will weigh over 700 tonnes, including secondary steel. The TPs will be installed on top of monopiles that will be delivered by Steelwind Nordenham, which received an order from EnBW in May last year.
Manufacturing surveillance and supervision of both the transition pieces and the monopiles will be carried out by Bureau Technical Services across Sif and multiple Smulders European manufacturing facilities. These facilities are located in the UK, the Netherlands, Poland, Belgium, Germany, and Denmark.
In April 2022, Heerema Marine Contractors was awarded the contract to transport and install the 64 monopiles and transition pieces for the project. During installation, Heerema will use the IHC IQIP double-walled noise mitigation system NMS-10,000 to reduce noise pollution.
The He Dreiht offshore wind farm is located approximately 85 kilometers northwest of the Island of Borkum and about 110 kilometers west of Heligoland. The project will comprise a total of 64 Vestas turbines with an individual output of 15 MW and is scheduled to go into operation in 2025.
