Effective works Phase 2 - 3

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2011 : week 34

Fabrication and assemblage of the steel structures for the Jacket foundations are ongoing at different yards all over the world, (Belgium-Netherlands-United Kingdom-Poland-Germany-Spain-South Korea).95 % of the jackets for phase II are constructed.The base materials for the jackets of phase III are purchased and the construction of midsections started.A jacket foundation is a steelstructure of tubulars designed to support the windturbines.The height of a jacket various between 40 and 45 m.

The pile driving works started in area B of the windfarm on Wednesday 6th of April 2011. Steel piles of 40 to 50 m are driven into the seabed by a hammer installation mounted on the jack up platform Buzzard. These so called "pin-piles" are the anchors to seal the jacket foundations into the seabed.The length of the piles depends on the soil conditions.To assure the correct locations of the piles a template is lowered onto the seabed. On Sunday August the 21th all pile driving works for the project were complete which means that 196 piles were driven into the seabed in about 4,5 months.

The jacket foundation installation for the offshore transformer station was executed on the 15th of August 2011.

The Heavy Lift Vessel "Rambiz" installed the first jacket foundation for the windturbines in area B on Sunday 12/06/2011 and on Tuesday 14/06/2011 this foundation was grouted to the pin-piles.Today 17 foundations out of the 24 for area B are installed and grouted.

The 33 kV infield cables, making the future connection between the wind turbines were picked up in Karlskrona, Sweden, on the 23th of July and were transported to Zeebruge by the cable lay vessel CS Sovereign. The infield cable laying works started on 12/08/11.5 out of the 24 strings of cables between the jackets are now installed.

The procurement of the raw materials for the 150 kV export cable is ongoing and the manufacturing started in Karlskrona, Sweden. This export cable is the second connection between the windfarm and the land cables.

The steelstructure of the Offshore Transformer Station is in erection in the workyard of HSM Schiedam, Netherlands.The erection of the 1st and the 2nd main deck sections as well as the mezzanine deck are complete. Construction of the roof deck is ongoing.

Repower, the contractor for the wind turbines, started purchasing parts of the wind turbines.Production start dates are as follows:the towers by AMBAU-Cuxhaven Germany from beginning of September 2011, the blades production by LM Glasfiber Holding Denmark started in July 2011, the generators by VEM Germany from October 2011 and the gearboxes by 2 constructors, WINERGY-Vörde Germany from September 2011 and HANSEN-Belgium from October 2011.

Directional drillings were executed on land for the 150 kV cable laying onshore which is about to start half of September this year. The Factory Acceptance Tests on the land cables are complete.These cables make the connection between the offshore windfarm and the sub-station of Elia onshore.

View on the jacket foundation for the offshore transformer station.	Overview on the offshore site with the Heavy Lift Vessel Rambiz next to an installed jacket foundation.
The cable lay vessel CS Sovereign next to a jacket foundation during infield cable laying.