Offshore installation contractor Seaway 7 has hired Van Oord to install scour protection around the 114 wind turbine foundations at the Seagreen offshore wind farm in the UK.
The wind farm, where Seaway 7 is the main installation contractor, is located 27 kilometers off the coast of Angus in Scotland.
The wind turbines for the 1.1 GW offshore wind farm will be installed on three-legged jacket foundations. After the installation of the jackets scour protection is required to avoid the effects of erosion. This is achieved by high precision rock installation around the jackets.
For this specific project, which started at the end of October 2021, Van Oord is deploying high dynamic flexible fall pipe vessel Bravenes.
"This vessel has a unique method for subsea rock installation thanks to the automated fall pipe system that can be skidded over the side of the vessel. This results in highly accurate and efficient rock installation in close vicinity to the jacket foundations using a powerful Remote Operating Vehicle (ROV)," Van Oord explained.
In addition, flexible fall pipe vessel Nordnes will be deployed to install scour protection on several cable crossings. All subsea activities will take place in water depths of up to 50 meters.
When completed, the Seagreen Offshore wind farm, owned by SSE Renewables and TotalEnergies, will be Scotland’s largest, and the world’s deepest, fixed-bottom offshore wind farm. It will be able to provide enough electricity to power 1.6 million homes.