Effective works Phase 3
2013 : week 27
The concession of C-Power in the North Sea for the erection of the wind farm is divided into two area's, area A and area B. When installation works are fully completed in area A 30 wind turbines and an offshore transformer station will have been installed. In area B 24 wind turbines are installed. The execution of the project is divided into three phases. Phase I completed in 2008 was a test phase with the installation of 6 wind turbines on gravity base foundations in Area A. Phase II, completed at the end of August 2012, consisted of the installation of 24 wind turbines in area B, and 6 wind turbines and the offshore transformer station in area A. Phase III will be executed in 2013, and consists of the installation and commissioning of the remaining 18 wind turbines in area A. This phase started in March 2013 and is planned to be completed in September 2013.
All the wind turbines of phase II and III are erected offshore on jacket foundations. A jacket foundation is a steelstructure of tubulars designed to support the wind turbines. The height of a jacket varies between 40 m and 50 m. The construction of the 48 jacket foundations onshore was executed in 2 lots of 24 in each lot. In 2011 the jackets for area B were installed, followed by the area A jackets during 2012.
In March the transport and installation jack up platform, the Goliath, sailed out to the Thornton Bank for the first WTG erection of phase III. Another jack up platform, the Vagant, was positioned offshore to assist the turbine installation teams with the mechanical completion of the wind turbines. On the 13th March 2013 the first wind turbine was installed.
Installed turbines: 18 turbines of phase III installed which makes a total of 54 installed turbines in the wind farm. With the installation of this last turbine, the construction of the C-Power windfarm on the Thorntonbank is final!
Turbines in production: 48 turbines from phase I, II and III.
© C-Power N.V., photographer Nicolas Job