Nicon Industries Preps Pacific Orca for Galloper

Danish steel structures specialist Nicon Industries has completed the mobilisation of the wind turbine installation vessel (WTIV) Pacific Orca in Esbjerg as the jack-up prepares for the 336MW Galloper offshore wind farm project.

Nicon Industries manufactured and installed 850 tons of seafastening equipment onboard the vessel.

The mobilisation onboard Pacific Orca was carried out in nine days, the company said.

Siemens Wind Power contracted Swire Blue Ocean to provide a WTIV for the Galloper project in November 2015.

The vessel will use Peel Ports Great Yarmouth as the load-out port during the project to install 56 Siemens 6MW turbines at the site located some 20 miles off the Suffolk coast.

Components such as nacelles, blades, towers and electrical modules have started arriving to the port. They will be pre-assembled quayside before going offshore.

The installation of the wind turbines at the site was initially scheduled to start in the early summer but is likely to be pushed to early May after GeoSea installed the last foundation at the site in late March, two months earlier than planned.

Development and construction of the GBP 1.5 billion Galloper offshore wind farm is led by innogy SE on behalf of the project partners, UK Green Investment Bank (GIB), Siemens Financial Services and Macquarie Capital.