SSE Renewables and TotalEnergies say the world’s deepest wind turbine foundation has been installed at their Seagreen Offshore Wind Farm off the coast of Scotland.
The foundation was transported to the project site on a barge operated by main contractor Seaway 7, where a Saipem 7000 semisubmersible crane vessel lifted each of the 2,000-ton turbine foundations into place, at a depth of 58.6 meters (nearly 200 feet).
The milestone marks the installation of the 112th jacket at the 114-turbine wind farm. The final wind turbine foundation is expected to be installed later this week.
“Reaching this major milestone is testament to the skill of our project team and all our contractors, including those who are part of our Scottish and U.K. supply chain,” says John Hill, Seagreen’s project director.
“More than 50 people are involved each time a foundation installation takes place, including the onshore team, ballast engineer, tug captain, crew, riggers, welders, tow master and pilot,” he adds. “Our ability to install jackets at this depth, in what is a challenging geographical area, boosts the U.K.’s energy security and means that consumers can benefit from the strong winds available far out in the North Sea.”
Each foundation will support a Vestas V164-10 MW turbine. First power was achieved in August 2022, with the wind farm expected to enter commercial operation later this year.
When complete, the 1.1 GW wind farm will be capable of generating around 5,000 GWh of energy annually.
It would be helpful to know the levelized cost of electric power delivered into the grid from various projects, in addition to the turbine count and specifics.