The first turbine jacket foundation has been installed of the Seagreen offshore wind farm. Two jackets operated by main contractor Seaway 7 made their way on a barge from Global Energy Group’s Port of Nigg in the Highlands of Scotland to the site 27km off the coast of Angus. It was met by the Saipem 7000 – the semisubmersible crane vessel which is used to lift each of the 2,000 tonne jackets.The maiden voyage marked the start of works for the 1.1GW Seagreen Wind Farm project site, a £3bn joint venture between SSE Renewables and TotalEnergies. SSE Renewables is leading the development and construction of the project, supported by TotalEnergies, and will operate Seagreen on completion.
The installation campaign marks the first-ever gigawatt-scale deployment of suction caisson technology to fix offshore wind turbine foundations to the seabed. Several barges will work in continuous rotation with each other carrying two jackets from Nigg to the offshore site before returning to Nigg for replenishment. Each journey from Nigg out to site will take approximately 36 hours depending on the weather. More than 50 people are involved each time the barges head out to site including the on-shore team, ballast engineer, tug captain, crew, riggers, welders, tow master and pilot.
Each jacket foundation will support a Vestas V164-10 MW turbine. First power is expected by early 2022 with the offshore wind farm expected to enter commercial operation in 2023.
