Van Oord to build “most ecological wind farm yet” for Ecowende

Van Oord will deploy its currently under construction offshore installation vessel Boreas on the Ecowende project. [Image: Van Oord]

Van Oord has been contracted to build the Hollandse Kust (west) lot V wind farm. Located about 28.6 nautical miles west of the Netherlands, it is being billed by developer Ecowende (a joint venture of Shell and Eneco) as “the most ecological wind farm yet.”

As Ecowende’s contractor, Van Oord will be responsible for transporting and installing the foundations and will also lay, connect and bury the cables between the wind turbines. Finally, Van Oord will be handling the transportation and installation of the wind turbines at sea.

Society needs offshore wind projects to meet its renewable energy targets and building wind farms in harmony with nature is important in eventually achieving those targets. This means implementing ecological measures that can contribute to the development of wind farms with a net-positive impact. Ecowende and Van Oord will collaborate on implementing a range of innovations, large-scale mitigations and other ecological measures. In addition, the parties will join forces in various feasibility studies and solution developments.

NOISE MITIGATION

Van Oord will deploy its currently-under-construction offshore installation vessel Boreas, for the transportation and installation of the foundations and turbines. To minimize the noise of the construction of the wind farm, Van Oord will deploy an alternative installation method for the foundations. A vibro hammer will drive the monopiles to their required depths by using vibrations. This will be the first large scale implementation of this innovative technique at a Dutch offshore wind farm. Van Oord’s cable laying vessel Nexus will be deployed for the installation of the connecting inter-array cables between the wind turbines.

ECO-FRIENDLY SCOUR PROTECTION

Scour protection to avoid the effects of erosion on the turbine foundations, one of Van Oord’s flexible fallpipe vessels will be deployed to accurately and efficiently install rocks around them, with Van Oord advising Ecowende on the use of components in the scour protection that will help stimulate a diverse habitat for marine life. One of Van Oord’s flexible fallpipe vessels will be deployed to accurately and efficiently install the eco-friendly scour protection.

THE WIND FARM

The Ecowende wind farm will have an operational capacity of approximately 760 MW, making 3% of the current Dutch electricity demand greener. Ecowende plans to have the wind farm fully operational and commissioned in 2026.