UK: Gwynt y Môr Signs Contract for Major Components Installation

GWYNT Y MÔR Offshore Wind Farm Limited has secured a major contract to begin the next stage of offshore construction off the North Wales coast.

In a £multi-million deal with Seaway Heavy Lifting Limited of Cyprus, the heavy lift vessel, ‘Stanislav Yudin’ will operate in Liverpool Bay between April and December, 2012, to install major components for the 160 turbine wind farm.

The ‘Stanislav Yudin’, a heavy lift vessel with a lifting capacity of 2500 mt and fully revolving crane, will install the jacket foundations and topsides for the two offshore substations along with 60 wind turbine foundations.

RWE npower renewables’ Gwynt y Môr Project Director, Toby Edmonds said: “This is a major development in the construction of Gwynt y Môr enabling the project to remain on schedule and begin delivering clean green energy to 400,000 homes in 2014, as planned.

“Investing in this installation vessel for Gwynt y Môr underlines our commitment to keeping the project on track with our agreed business plan, and to delivering one of the UK’s most important renewable energy schemes.

“The Stanislav Yudin will install the first visible components of the wind farm. From mid April there will be periods of intense offshore activity as the substations and foundations, the monopiles and transitions pieces, begin to appear more than 13km off the North Wales Coast.”

This agreement builds on an existing contract with Seaway Heavy Lifting (SHL) announced in February 2011, which sees the ‘Stanislav Yudin’ transporting and installing the offshore substation topsides, being built at Harland and Wolff in Belfast.

Now, the ‘Stanislav Yudin’ will also install 60 monopiles and transitions pieces, with an option of further foundations in the future.

The substation jackets, manufactured by BurntIsland Fabrication in Scotland, will be installed between April and June followed by the installation of the foundations from July onwards.

The duration of the campaign as a whole is estimated at approximately four months.

CEO at Seaway Heavy Lifting, Martin Spaans, said: “We are delighted to have been awarded a second – and even larger – transport and installation contract for Gwynt y Môr.

“The Stanislav Yudin with its high sailing speed, high manoeuvrability and enormous on-deck loading surface makes it a suitable vessel for a range of activities in the offshore industry.”

At 576MW, Gwynt y Môr is one of the largest offshore wind farms currently in construction in Europe. It is a shared investment between partners RWE Innogy, Stadtwerke München GmbH and Siemens. Once fully operational, energy generation from Gwynt y Môr is expected to be equivalent to the average annual needs of around 400,000 homes.

Offshore construction activity for Gwynt y Môr began in Liverpool Bay in January 2012, with preparations to the seabed, known as scour protection.

RWE npower renewables has set up a project information line which people can call if they have a query about the construction of Gwynt y Môr.

Gwynt y Môr offshore wind farm is being constructed 13 kilometres off the North Wales coast, in water depths of 12-28 metres, and was granted approval by DECC (Department of Energy and Climate Change) back in December 2008.

Gwynt y Môr Offshore Wind Farm Limited has awarded contracts worth more than £70million to companies in Wales and more are expected to be announced shortly.

nhj[mappress]

Offshore WIND staff, April 03, 2012