Van Oord firms up construction contract for ‘most ecological offshore windfarm’
Dutch marine construction firm Van Oord has confirmed a contract award by Ecowende, a joint venture of Shell and Eneco, for the construction of the offshore wind farm Hollandse Kust West zone (lot 6) in the Dutch North Sea.
Ecowende’s wind farm, with an installed capacity of about 760 MW, will be located some 53 km off the Dutch coast at IJmuiden. It is expected to be the most ecological wind farm yet, with minimal impact on the natural habitat of birds, bats and marine mammals and a thriving underwater world. The wind farm is planned to be commissioned in 2026 and cover about 3% of the current Dutch electricity demand.
Under the contract with an undisclosed value, Van Oord will transport and install the foundations and wind turbines, as well as design, procure and lay the inter-array cables.
The company will deploy its under-construction offshore installation vessel Boreas for the transport and installation of the foundations and turbines and use the so-called vibro hammer for the first time at a Dutch offshore wind farm to minimise the noise of the construction. Van Oord’s cable laying vessel Nexus will carry out inter-array cables installation and one of the company’s flexible fallpipe vessels will be deployed to install “eco-friendly” scour protection.
