Jan De Nul kicks off Gode Wind 3 and Borkum Riffgrund 3

Jan De Nul’s scope includes the transport and installation of 106 wind turbine monopile foundations and one offshore substation foundation, including associated topside.

Subcontractor Wagenborg has deployed its Wagenborg Barge 8 for the transport of the monopiles foundations from Steelwind’s yard in Germany to marshalling harbour Eemshaven in The Netherlands.

In Summer, Jan De Nul’s brand-new Heavy Lift Vessel Les Alizés will arrive on site and install the first monopile foundation offshore, simultaneously the baptism of fire for this brand-new vessel.

The first assignment for Heavy Lift Vessel Les Alizés

Les Alizés was delivered by the CMHI Shipyard in China in January 2023 and is currently sailing to Eemshaven in The Netherlands. This vessel investment is a response to the global trend within the offshore wind energy sector to design and install increasingly larger wind turbines.

Thanks to her dimensions and impressive lifting and loading capacities, Les Alizés will be able to load out, transport and install multiple units of the largest and heaviest wind turbine foundations. In addition, as a crane vessel that floats, she will be able to install heavier and larger foundations into deeper waters and in more challenging seabed conditions. She will mainly be used for the construction of offshore wind farms, but with her impressive crane she is also extremely suitable for decommissioning offshore oil and gas platforms.

Les Alizés is fitted with a highly advanced exhaust filtering system by means of a Selective Catalytic Reduction system and a Diesel Particulate Filter, making it the very first seagoing installation vessel of its kind to be an Ultra-Low Emission vessel (ULEv), moreover Stage V-certified.

Green power for approx. 1.2 million German households every year

Both wind farms will use 11-MW Siemens Gamesa turbines and are located in the German North Sea. The Borkum Riffgrund 3 more particularly will be located adjacent to Ørsted's existing offshore wind farms Borkum Riffgrund 1 and Borkum Riffgrund 2. Gode Wind 3 will be close to Ørsted's Gode Wind 1 and 2.

For the first time, Ørsted will be using monopiles with secondary steel components instead of a transition piece for connecting turbine and foundation.

Delivery is foreseen to be completed in 2024. Once in full operation in 2024 and 2025, respectively, these wind farms will generate enough electricity to power approx. 1.2 million German households every year.