Construction work is set to begin on Denmark's largest offshore wind farm, Horns Rev 3, in October. The project will kick off when Vattenfall installs the first of a total of 49 foundations in the North Sea. The foundations consist of 40-50-metre 'monopiles' made of steel, with a diameter of 6.5 metres.
The monopiles are driven about 30 metres into the seabed and will support MHI Vestas' 8.3 MW wind turbines. At the beginning of October, the first four monopiles were loaded onto a special vessel, the Innovation, in the Netherlands and driven into the seabed. The next four monopiles will then be loaded in the Danish Esbjerg Harbour in mid-October. The construction work will take place in an 88 square kilometers area in the North Sea, at least 34 km off the west coast of the Danish Jutland Peninsula. Before the construction could begin, seabed preparations had to be carried out, including a geological survey and a subsequent detonation of old naval mines. Due to noise concerns, a support vessel is being used to place an air bubble installation on the seabed around the construction site. The installation creates a sound-absorbing, double layer of air bubbles that protect marine mammals in the area.
