On Wednesday and Thursday this week, Hamburg has been the place to be if you want to hear about the latest technology behind the Mono Bucket foundation at the Universal Foundation Workshop 2016.
Over 100 delegates representing over 50 companies involved in designing, building, buying and installing (and decommissioning) these offshore wind foundations gathered at the Radison Blu Airport Hotel to discuss these foundations.
Noise mitigation during offshore wind farm installation work remains a major concern for the industry the Mono Bucket provides a solution not only for this but also simplifies decommissioning at the end of the wind farm life. One of the first Mono buckets installed, for the Horns Rev 2 met mast, was recently removed by DBB Jack Up Services. Delegates were shown how the seabed was returned to its original state in a relatively simple operation.
Representatives from companies around the European coastline from France to the Irish and North Sea countries and into the Baltic were joined this year by 2 delegates from the United States. Lorry Wagner, President, and Dave Karpinski, VP of Operations at LEEDCo are building a wind farm, project name Icebreaker, in Lake Erie, offshore from the city of Cleveland.
This wind farm will be built on the Mono Bucket foundations due to be installed in spring 2018 that have been fabricated in the United States. The foundations will be fitted with inverted cones at the water surface level to break up the ice when it starts moving after the winter freeze up. The installation plan is being developed by Fred. Olsen Windcarrier, which along with Universal Foundations is another company within the Fred. Olsen related companies.
This workshop has been the third in company’s series of annual informative networking events.
By Dick Hill