Jan de Nul Group has installed its first jacket foundations in Taiwanese waters. The work was carried out for the Offshore Windfarm Phase 1 demonstration project of Taiwan Power Corporation (TPC), which is located off the coast of Fangyuan in Changhua County and will serve as a test location for the power company.
The TPC Offshore Wind Farm will comprise 21 offshore wind turbines, each installed on a jacket foundation, which are anchored to the seabed by four steel pin piles. Installation of these pin piles started in June this year.
Nine of the 21 foundations, each weighing 1,100 metric tonnes, have now been installed on the seabed by offshore installation vessel Aegir, which Jan De Nul Group chartered from Heerema Marine Contractors in the Netherlands.
“Two years have passed prior to installing the first jacket foundation offshore. We are therefore more than delighted that the installation has been successful”, comments Peter De Pooter, manager of offshore renewables at Jan De Nul Group.
All 21 jackets have been manufactured at the South Korean Shipyard Company Samkang, and measure between 55 and 62 metres in overall height. Five trips are needed for the two chartered heavy transport vessels to bring all jackets from South Korea to Taiwan.
The jackets include a 7.2-metre high transition piece with a diameter of 5.4 metres to support the towers carrying the Hitachi 5.2 MW turbines. Each jacket comes with two davit cranes for cargo hoisting and two boat landings to enable personnel access. The jackets are equipped with specialized offshore accessories such as navigation lights, foghorns and CCTV cameras.
Onshore connection
In the meantime, Jan De Nul Group has completed all onshore civil works needed for the connection of the offshore wind farm to the Taiwanese power grid.
For the connection of the subsea cable at the landfall with the onshore substation of Changhua County, Jan De Nul Group constructed 13 kilometres of duct banks in collaboration with the Taiwanese company Star Energy Corporation.
Meanwhile, Hitachi continues to mobilize the turbine components to the marshalling port of Taichung, to allow preparation for offshore installation in August with Jan De Nul’s Offshore Jack-Up Installation Vessel Taillevent.
Consortium
The ‘Taiwan Power Company Offshore Windfarm Phase 1 Project – Demonstration’ has been awarded to the consortium of Jan De Nul and Hitachi in February 2018.
JThe Belgian offshore contractor is responsible for the full balance of plant, including design, fabrication and installation of the foundations, and the provision of the offshore vessel for the installation of the wind turbines. A significant part of the electrical scope is also part of the contract, including the supply and installation of both the onshore and offshore cables as well as upgrading an electrical substation.
Hitachi is in charge of manufacturing, assembly, installation and other works related to the 21 Typhoon certified offshore wind turbines using a downwind rotor, each with a capacity of 5.2MW. The Jan De Nul–Hitachi consortium also is responsible for the first five years of operation and maintenance (O&M) of the offshore wind farm.
This article first appeared on Project Cargo Journal, a sister publication of SWZ|Maritime.
