The 103rd and final jacket foundation has been installed at the Moray East offshore wind farm site in Scotland.
The Seajacks Scylla jack-up vessel installed the first three-legged jacket in July. The wind farm’s three offshore transformer modules (OTMs), together with their three jacket foundations, have been in place since mid-September.
DEME’s installation vessel Orion, initially scheduled to be deployed for Moray East jacket installation, was replaced by Seajacks Scylla following an accident on board Orion at the beginning of May.
The installation of the final wind turbine foundation now enables the next phase of the project construction, the installation of 100 MHI Vestas 9.5 MW wind turbines, to commence early next year.
“Today’s achievement is remarkable given the challenges of COVID-19, winter weather and knock on impacts to the global supply chain and travel. Despite that, the last jacket structures were assembled at Newcastle and barged to Nigg last week. With the focus and dedication of all involved the team were able to install the 103rd and final jacket safely”, said Moray East Project Director Marcel Sunier.
DEME Offshore, the EPCI contractor for Moray East’s jacket foundations, contracted Smulders for the fabrication of 55 wind turbine jacket foundations and Lamprell for the the remaining 45 wind turbine jackets and the three jackets for the project’s OTMs.
All jackets were shipped to Global Energy’s facility at Nigg, from which they were prepared for installation on site in the Moray Firth, some 22 kilometres off the Scottish coast.
“I would like to thank all of those who have made this possible including the ca.500 staff at Smulders yard in Newcastle and the team at Global Energy’s facility at Nigg”, Marcel Sunier said. “We now look forward to 2021, the Wind Turbine Pre-Assembly in the Cromarty Firth and their subsequent safe installation at sea and energisation of the entire infrastructure allowing the export of clean and affordable electricity, doing our part to contribute to a sustainable future”.
Photo: Moray East; Final jacket lifting