Jan De Nul loads first Taiwan-bound jackets in South Korea

Jan De Nul has loaded the first jacket foundations built in South Korea for the 109.2 MW Taiwan Power Company Offshore Windfarm Phase 1 Project.

Jan De Nul will transport a total of 21 four-legged jacket foundations from Samkang’s fabrication yard in South Korea to the installation site offshore Taiwan in the coming weeks.

The jackets will be shipped in five batches of three to five units on a self-propelled semi-submersible transport vessel. Jan De Nul signed a contract with Taiwan-based Hung Hua Construction for the overseas transport of the jackets.

During the load-out operations at the yard of Samkang, the crew on board of the transport vessel remains isolated from all activities near and on shore in order to avoid all risk of contamination with COVID-19, Jan De Nul said.

Once in Taiwan, the jackets will be custom cleared before travelling to their final destination approximately 8 kilometres off the coast of Fangyuan in Central Western Taiwan, where Jan De Nul is responsible for their installation.

Each jacket will be anchored to the seabed by four pin piles of 3.1 metre diameter each. The accompanying pin piles have already started arriving in Taiwan.

The jackets for the TPC Offshore Windfarm measure between 55 and 62 metres in overall length. The heaviest unit weighs approximately 1,100 tonnes, and the combined total weight is approximately 22,000 tonnes.

Each jacket includes a 7.2-metre transition piece (TP) with a diameter of 5.4 metres to support towers carrying the Hitachi 5.2 MW turbines.

A jacket also comes equipped with two davit cranes for cargo hoisting and two boat landings to enable personnel access. The jackets are equipped with specialized offshore accessories such as navigation lights, foghorns, cameras, etc.

Jan De Nul Group initiated the fabrication process in the summer of 2019. The first jacket was completed by the second half of April 2020.

The TPC Offshore Windfarm Phase 1 is being developed by the consortium of Jan De Nul and Hitachi on behalf of Taiwan Power Company.

Jan De Nul is responsible for the design, fabrication, and installation of the foundations, the installation of the wind turbines, the supply and installation of the onshore and offshore cables, as well as for the upgrading of the substation.

Hitachi is in charge of manufacturing, assembly, operation and maintenance, and other works related to the 5.2 MW offshore wind turbines with a downwind rotor.

The wind farm is scheduled to be completed by the end of the year.