Dutch electricity transmission system operator TenneT said Tuesday that the load-out of the jacket for TenneT's offshore platform Hollandse Kust (north) has been completed in the port of Vlissingen, the Netherlands.
The 2,100 tons heavy jacket was brought on board a pontoon from the yard of Heerema Vlissingen B.V. by load-out specialist Mammoet.
With self-propelled transporters under the piles, Mammoet moved the jacket some 150 meters towards the quay on Friday afternoon. On Saturday morning, the team waited until the deck of the pontoon was as high as the quay due to the tide. Then the 45-meter high jacket was driven onboard and around noon the contractor started securing the cargo, Tennet said.
After the loadout, which happened ten months from the start of construction, the jacket is ready for transport to its final offshore location.
The sail away is planned for the end of October, after which the jacket will be positioned more than 18 kilometers off the coast of Egmond.
"Next year the contractor combination will place the topside for Hollandse Kust (north) on the undercarriage and the platform will be ready in 2023. From that moment on TenneT will bring 700 MW of wind energy ashore with this 'plug socket at sea'. The jacket was designed on the drawing board in such a way that, with regular maintenance, it will have a minimum lifespan of 40 years," Tennet said.
Earlier this year, TenneT and wind farm developer CrossWind, a JV of Shell and Eneco, signed agreements for the construction of the offshore grid connection for the Hollandse Kust (noord) wind farm, which is being built some 18.5 kilometers off the Dutch coast at Egmond aan Zee.
The agreements concern the realization, connection, and transmission of power between the wind farm of CrossWind and the platform of TenneT.
Also, after the tender for the construction and installation of the offshore transformer station Hollandse Kust (north), the combination EQUANS (formerly ENGIE Fabricom)/Iemants also signed the contract for (west Alpha) platform last year.
"The assembly hall at Heerema is already starting to fill up with the prefab parts for west Alpha. We will now get to work on them", says Guus Siteur, project lead for the Hollandse Kust (north) and (west Alpha) platforms on behalf of TenneT.