Walney Extension offshore wind farm

capable of supplying more than 500,000 UK homes with renewable electricity

659 megawatts of renewable generating capacity

87 foundations

19 kilometres off Walney Island, Cumbria, United Kingdom

Brief introduction

Van Oord has completed the installation of scour protection and the transport and installation of the 87 foundations for the Walney Extension offshore wind farm. When operational late in 2018, the world’s largest offshore wind farm will be capable of supplying renewable energy to more than half a million households in the United Kingdom. It will contribute to governmental targets to ensure that 15% of the UK’s energy is being produced sustainably by 2020. Offshore installation vessel Aeolus and heavy lift installation vessel Svanen played important roles in the efficient construction of the offshore wind farm.

Logistical and technical challenges

After the successful completion of Burbo Bank Extension offshore wind project in 2016, Van Oord again reached agreement with DONG Energy to build a new offshore wind farm. The project had both logistical and technical challenges. Simply transporting the foundation elements to Belfast from various locations spread across Europe was a logistical puzzle in itself. The monopiles were installed safely by our top duo Svanen and Aeolus well within the tight time schedule. In addition to the traditional method of installing foundations with the Aeolus jacked (standing on legs), the installation vessel accomplished a new first by installing the transition pieces while floating.

`Walney Extension will be cablable of delivering clean electricity to more than half a million homes in the United Kingdom. I'm very glad to be working with Van Oord on the biggest offshore wind farm ever. Building it will bring us significantly closer to achieving our aim of having 6.5 gigawatts of installed capacity online by 2020.`

Samuel Leupold, Executive Vice President at DONG Energy

Specialised offshore wind equipment

Van Oord's modern Aeolus was upgraded even further for this project. Thanks to innovative modifications, the vessel can also do its work while afloat. When using this method, it is extremely important to maintain the stability of the vessel throughout the installation cycle. While the Svanen has anchors to keep it in place during floating installation, the Aeolus used Dynamic Positioning (DP) to maintain a stable position. Prior to this project, the Svanen was also modified to the newest standards, engineered by our in-house experts.

Samuel Leupold, Executive Vice President at DONG Energy

Operational

The Walney Extension offshore wind farm is expected to be fully commissioned in 2018, at which time it will be the largest offshore wind farm in the world.

Additional information

Start date
12/13 November 2016: load-out of the first six monopiles in Rostock, Germany

End date
11 August 2017 (completion)

Location
Irish Sea, approximately 19 kilometres off Walney Island, Cumbria, United Kingdom.

Business unit
Offshore Wind Projects

Client
DONG Energy

Project

Walney Extension offshore wind farm

Offshore installation vessel Aeolus packed with ingenuity

Projects - London Array

MPI Offshore has been contracted the blade upgrade campaign on 127 of the 175 turbines of the London Array offshore wind farm. A full turn key contract which also involved the decommissioning, commissioning and subsequent 500 hour service of the Wind Turbine Generators (WTG’s).