Cadeler’s wind turbine installation vessel (WTIV) Wind Peak is en route to the site of the Sofia offshore wind farm with the first set of Siemens Gamesa’s SG 14-222 DD turbine components.
The vessel departed the port of Hull on 20 March, according to the available AIS data, and is heading towards the project site located on Dogger Bank, 195 kilometres off the UK. According to earlier information about the vessel from Cadeler, Wind Peak can transport and install seven complete 15 MW turbine sets or five sets of 20+ MW turbines per load.
The service operation vessel (SOV) IWS Seawalker , which departed Hull two days earlier, is also heading to the Sofia offshore wind farm site to support the wind turbine installation.
Wind Peak arrived in Hull earlier this month to load the wind turbine components and prepare for its first journey to the project location.
The 1.4 GW Sofia offshore wind farm, developed by RWE, will comprise 100 Siemens Gamesa 14 MW wind turbines, a number of which will be fitted with recyclable blades .
At the project site, the foundation installation, which started last year, continues with more than half of the turbine foundations so far. The monopile foundations are being installed by Van Oord using its jack-up vessel Aeolus .
The project’s offshore converter station , onshore substation, and onshore and offshore export cables are also in place.
The 1.4 GW offshore wind project is expected to be commissioned in 2026 when it will be capable of generating enough electricity to power the equivalent of 1.2 million UK homes.