Heerema Marine Contractors’ semi-submersible crane vessel (SSCV) Thialf has installed the offshore substation jacket for the Dogger Bank B offshore wind farm in the UK.
After returning from the Baltic Sea , the vessel Thialf was deployed on the Dogger Bank A & B offshore wind farms to install the jacket foundations for the project’s two offshore substations.
The jacket components were being transported to the project site onboard the cargo barges Saipem 44 and Wagenborg 11 towed by tow tugs AHT Fram Prince and AHT Carlo Martello .
Saipem is responsible for the transportation and installation of the Dogger Bank A and B substations, being delivered by Aibel , under a contract the company signed in 2020 with the Dogger Bank Wind Farm joint venture partners.
Aibel plans to deliver the Dogger Bank B substation topside in Q2 of 2024, and the Dogger Bank C offshore platform is expected to be delivered in Q2 2025.
The 3.6 GW Dogger Bank Wind Farm is being built in three 1.2 GW phases some 130 kilometres off the UK coast.
The project, owned by a joint venture between SSE Renewables (40 per cent), Equinor (40 per cent), and Vårgrønn (20 per cent), will be the world’s largest offshore wind farm once completed, providing enough electricity to power roughly six million UK homes a year.
Offshore construction started last year with the first monopile foundations installed in July 2022 and the first wind turbines are set to be installed soon.