Reach to Remove Nine Piles at Wikinger

Reach Subsea has signed a contract with Iberdrola Renovables Offshore Deutschland GmbH in Germany for the removal of nine piles at the Wikinger Wind Farm.

Reach will execute the contract using Ocean Installer’s Normand Mermaid.

Total contract duration is approximately two weeks.

Sales and Marketing Manager Bård Thuen Høgheim says: “We are pleased to see that the effort to get a foothold in the renewable market is starting to materialize.”

Nine steel piles, fabricated in Aschersleben (Germany) by Bilfinger MCE, were driven into the seabed at selected locations, with static and dynamic tension and pressure tests conducted under water for several weeks.

The findings of the works are essential for the project’s engineering solution to be technically and economically optimized and will also provide valuable information on offshore piling and noise mitigation systems for similar Baltic Sea geological formations which can be found in other projects.

The Wikinger offshore wind farm is being developed by Iberdrola, off the coast of the island of Rügen where the water depths range between 37 and 43 metres. The project covers an area of roughly 34km², within which 70 turbines and one offshore substation are planned to be installed.

With total investment of almost €1.4 billion, Wikinger will have a significant economic impact through the entire supply chain. Thus far, Iberdrola has invested over €100 million in the project’s development and more than 15 companies from Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania have already been engaged and suppliers/contractors.

Image: oceaninstaller