Offshore Wind Ticker - Van Oord signs contract for Burbo Bank Extension offshore wind farm

Van Oord has signed a contract with DONG Energy for the installation of foundations at the Burbo Bank Extension offshore wind farm in the UK. Van Oord will install the project’s 32 monopiles and transition piece foundations, supply and install the scour protection and provide the logistics between the fabrication ports in Germany, Denmark, the United Kingdom and the offshore wind farm. The installation works are planned to take place during the summer of 2016.

The Burbo Bank Extension offshore wind farm is located 8 km off the coast in Liverpool Bay, United Kingdom. With a total of 32 Vestas wind turbines of 8 MW each, the offshore wind farm will have a total capacity of 258 MW.

DONG Energy’s Senior Project Director, Klaus Skoust Moller, said: ‘Burbo Bank Extension is an exciting project with the potential to power over 180,000 UK homes, and it's great to sign this agreement with Van Oord for the installation of foundations. This is the last of our main contracts to be signed which reflects that the project is progressing in accordance with the plan. Offshore construction work is expected to begin in 2016, and Van Oord will play an important role in taking this forward.’

For installing foundations at the Burbo Bank Extension offshore wind farm, Van Oord will use its heavy lift vessel Svanen. The installation strategy is based on the feeder concept bringing foundation components floating to the Svanen at the installation site. This method has been optimized over recent years resulting in highly efficient installation cycles. To date, Svanen has successfully installed nearly 500 offshore wind turbine foundations.

The project fits perfectly in the strategy of Van Oord  which is aimed to deliver innovative and sustainable solutions to the offshore wind industry. By optimizing logistic and installation solutions, Van Oord responds to the need for lower cost of sustainable energy and supports the further development of offshore wind energy.