Belgian offshore installation contractor Jan De Nul has secured a contract for the installation of monopiles for 72 offshore wind turbines that will make up the 1.1 GW Inch Cape offshore wind farm in Scotland.
Inch Cape offshore wind farm, being developed by ESB and Red Rock Renewables as equal joint owners, recently reached financial close and is now progressing into construction.
In that regard, Jan De Nul has been contracted for the installation of the monopile foundations with the offshore heavy-lift vessel Les Alizés, starting in late 2025.
The monopiles are up to 110 meters long and weigh up to 2,500 tonnes, equal to the weight of about 2,500 average cars.
They will be loaded at a newly built quayside at the entrance to the Port of Leith in Edinburgh.
The project will mark third consecutive assignment for Jan de Nul’s heavy-lift vessel Les Alizés, which is customized for the transport and installation of offshore energy infrastructure.
In December 2024, the vessel finished her first project, installing 107 monopile foundations on German wind farms Gode Wind 3 and Borkum Riffgrund 3.
In spiring 2025, the vessel will continue operations with the installation of 72 monopiles on RWE’s Thor, Denmark’s largest offshore wind farm to date.
At 1080 MW, Inch Cape, located off the Angus coast, is one of Scotland’s largest offshore wind farm projects to enter construction.
Green electricity from Inch Cape will reduce carbon emissions by 2.5 million tonnes per year compared to fossil fuel equivalents, and once complete, it will generate enough green energy to power the equivalent of half of all Scottish homes.
It will also be the U.K.’s first offshore wind farm to install 15 MW Vestas turbines.
To remind, Les Alizés vessel is on long-term charter to RWE, but it has ensured the vessel could be made available to other developers during downtime between its own projects.
“There are few vessels globally with the capability to install the XXL monopiles we have chosen for Inch Cape, so we are delighted to have Jan De Nul’s Les Alizés as part of our construction fleet. Our installation programme tied in nicely with a gap in the vessel’s planned activity with RWE. We are appreciative of this unique industry collaboration,” said John Hill, Project Director for Inch Cape Offshore Limited.