Belgian offshore contractor DEME Offshore has installed the first jacket at the 950 MW Moray East offshore wind farm, offshore Scotland, the UK.
In total, 100 wind turbine jackets and 3 offshore substation jackets will be installed at the project.
"Despite the ongoing challenges of the Coronavirus pandemic and a last-minute crane failure prior to the delivery of DEME’s newbuild offshore installation vessel ‘Orion’, DEME Offshore has achieved the installation of the first jacket in good time and got this phase of the project off to a strong start," DEME Offshore said.
Given that the crane on the Orion collapsed, making the vessel unusable for the Moray East project, DEME Offshore deployed the replacement vessel ‘Scylla’ for the jacket installation.
Prior to the installation of the jackets, Deme's Apollo vessel installed 309 pin piles, three at each of 103 locations.
Once completed the Moray East Offshore Windfarm development will have 100 MHI Vestas 9.5MW turbines supplying up to 950MW of power into the National Grid and is due to be operational by 2022. It is operated by EDPR and ENGIE.
Bart De Poorter, General Manager DEME Offshore said: "Despite the many challenges brought to us by the Coronavirus and the incident with the crane of ‘Orion’, our dedicated Moray East project team and all of our partners have done their utmost to make sure this complex project stays on schedule by closely coordinated teamwork.
"Such an ambitious project would not be possible without these highly skilled professionals - their ‘can do’ attitude - and the support of our shareholders, lenders, management, and the team of the Moray East project. In these unprecedented times, and given this is one of the most complex EPCI projects in offshore wind history, this is a real achievement.”
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