FoundOcean to Grout Beatrice Jackets with BASF MasterFlow 9800

Seaway Heavy Lifting has contracted FoundOcean for the grouting of the 84 wind turbine jacket foundations and two offshore transmission module (OTM) jackets at the Beatrice offshore wind farm, and has chosen BASF MasterFlow 9800 bulk-supplied grout. 

Image source: SSE

According to BASF, the MasterFlow 9800 high-strength grout was mainly chosen because of its unique delivery and installation method, which allows for a considerable reduction in the offshore grouting time as part of the foundation installation and enables working in the shortest weather windows possible.

The company further highlighted that it received Type Approval Certification (TAC) for the MasterFlow 9800 bulk-supplied grout from DNV GL only four months ago.

“The development of MasterFlow 9800 by BASF in conjunction with our partner FoundOcean demonstrates the continued development of revolutionary materials and installation methods to meet our customers’ requirements. The unique design of MasterFlow 9800 contributes to continued cost reduction of offshore wind energy”, said Charles Elins, European Offshore Key Account Manager of BASF.

At the Beatrice offshore wind farm site, Seaway Heavy Lifting is currently working on pre-piling. At a wind turbine/OTM location, each of the four piles for a jacket foundation is lifted, upended, lowered into the 700-tonne PIF and then hammered in.

The jacket foundations are being produced by Smulders, Bladt and BiFab.

The 580MW project – developed by a joint venture partnership between SSE (40%), Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (35%) and Red Rock Power Ltd. (25%) – is expected to become fully operational in 2019.

The wind farm is being constructed with a tier 1 supply chain comprising SHL, Subsea 7, Nexans and Siemens.