714 Megawatt East Anglia ONE Offshore Wind Farm Completes Construction Of First Jacket Foundations

The first two 840-tonne steel jacket foundations for the 714 megawatt (MW) East Anglia ONE offshore wind farm have been completed in waters in the Southern North Sea.

In news that may not interest everybody, but is still tremendously fascinating to some, leading international contract Van Oord, using the purpose-built heavy-lift Bokalift 1 vessel, successfully lifted and installed the first two 840-tonne steel jacket foundations, measuring in at 65-meters tall, which will eventually support the offshore wind turbines for the 714 MW East Anglia ONE offshore wind farm being developed by ScottishPower Renewables.

“It is a hugely impressive feat of engineering to lift nearly 900 tonnes of steel and place it with pinpoint precision in to the North Sea,” crowed Charlie Jordan, ScottishPower Renewables Project Director for East Anglia ONE. “It is a significant milestone for the project. This is one of the largest offshore windfarms ever to be built and good progress is being made in all areas. As well as the activity offshore, our onshore substation and underground cable route is also taking shape.”

“This project makes our expertise in the installation of foundations even broader,” added Daan Makkink, Van Oord Project Director. “So far only a handful of wind farms have been constructed on jacket foundations. Their number will increase in the years ahead because the ideal locations for wind farms built on monopiles – shallow waters with a relatively flat, firm seabed – are filling up fast.”

The East Anglia ONE offshore wind farm was given the final go-ahead back in February of 2016 when ScottishPower Renewables, a part of Spanish utility Iberdrola, committed to developing the mammoth wind farm in waters 55-meters deep located 50 kilometers from the Lowestoft coast.

In total, the project will utilize 102 Siemens 7 MW wind turbines which will deliver the equivalent electricity to supply 500,000 households.