Offshore foundation installation starts at TPC Offshore Wind Farm in Taiwan
The TPC Offshore Wind Farm consists of 21 offshore wind turbines on pre-piled jackets, each anchored to the seabed by four steel pin piles. In a first phase, Jan De Nul Group will install 44 pin piles for 11 jackets, of which 12 are installed. Forty more pin piles are shipped from the fabrication yard in South Korea to Taiwan in the coming weeks.
For this foundation installation campaign, Jan De Nul Group chartered the offshore installation vessel Aegir from the Dutch company, Heerema Marine Contractors.
“The COVID-19 outbreak has a severe impact on our activities,” says Peter De Pooter, Manager Renewables at Jan De Nul Group. “However, we have been able to take the first hurdles caused by this pandemic. It is a relief that we now have been able to start the actual installation works. We are fully determined to continue our engagement in the expansion of the offshore wind energy in Taiwan.”
Connection to shore
Simultaneously, Jan De Nul’s cable-laying vessel Willem de Vlamingh started with the installation of the submarine export cables. The first out of four cables was successfully pulled to the onshore junction box.
Due to the presence of a nearshore oyster farm and an important shipping lane in the trajectory of the subsea cables, these subsea cables must be buried 21 metres below the seabed. Therefore, Jan De Nul Group drilled four 1 km-long pipes by horizontal directional drilling (HDD) from offshore to the onshore junction box. The landfall works were executed by means of two of Jan De Nul’s Starfishes, trenching excavators, and with the support of Taiwan-based Hung Hua Construction.
TPC Offshore Wind Farm
Taiwan Power Company (TPC) awarded the ‘Offshore Windfarm Phase 1 Project – Demonstration’ contract to the Consortium Jan De Nul-Hitachi on 13 Feb 2018. The project entails the manufacturing and installation of 21 offshore wind turbines, each with a capacity of 5.2 MW.
Jan De Nul Group is responsible for the design, fabrication and installation of the foundations, the installation of the wind turbines, the supply and installation of the cables off- and onshore as well as upgrading an electrical substation. Hitachi Ltd. is in charge of manufacturing, assembly and other works related to the offshore wind turbines with downwind rotor. Particular feature of the design is that the foundations and wind turbines are designed to withstand cyclonic waves and winds, and earthquake loads. Subsequently, the Consortium is responsible over five years for the operation and maintenance (O&M) of the offshore wind farm.
