Alewijnse Marine provided GeoSea with two QA Bolt Tension Logging systems during the recently completed installation of 56 foundations on the 336MW Galloper wind farm off Suffolk, UK.
The final foundation was installed by GeoSea’s jack-up vessel Innovation in late March, two months ahead of schedule.
The QA Bolt Tension Logging systems enabled a high-precision installation process by ensuring that each of the 128 large M72 bolts that secure each monopile to its transition piece was fixed at the correct tension and torque, Alewijnse said.
“These unique systems delivered by Alewijnse Marine use barcode scanners to identify each of the uniquely numbered bolts. Once identified, the related tension and torque of each bolt was measured and logged. This advanced data is used by GeoSea and the end client for processing activities and quality assurance,” Alewijnse’s product manager Johan van Rikxoort said.
Galloper is located in the North Sea, some 30 kilometres off the Suffolk coast, and is comprised of 56 Siemens 6MW wind turbines.
VBMS has started installing the inter-array cables at the site, and the installation of the 56 6MW Siemens turbines is expected to follow soon.
The GBP 1.5 billion wind farm is scheduled for commissioning in the first quarter of 2018.
Construction of the wind farm is being led by innogy SE on behalf of the project partners, the UK Green Investment Bank (GIB), Siemens Financial Services and Macquarie Capital.