Eiffage, through Smulders, as part of a consortium with Sif, a Dutch company specialised in offshore foundations, has been awarded the contract for the manufacturing and supply of monopiles and transition pieces (approximately 260 kilotons steel) for first two phases of the Dogger Bank offshore wind farm project in England.
The Dogger Bank Wind Farm, a joint venture between SSE Renewables and Equinor will be located in the North Sea, more than 130 km off from the Yorkshire coast of England. At 3.6 GW, it will be the largest offshore wind farm in the world, and is being developed in three phases: Dogger Bank A, B and C.
The first two phases, Dogger Bank A and B, will require 190 foundations in total. Each foundation comprises a monopile and a transition piece in water depths varying from 18 to 63 meters.
For this contract, Smulders will manufacture the secondary steel of the transition pieces, and will assemble, coat and test the fully equipped transition pieces. Sif will manufacture and supply the monopiles and primary steel for the transition pieces, and will insure the marshalling of all foundation components.
Production in Smulders’ facilities in Poland and Belgium will begin in May 2021. The assembly, which will be done at the Belgian Hoboken facility, is scheduled to last approximately 10 months. The first phase, Dogger Bank A, is expected to be operational in 2023.
Dogger Bank is the first offshore wind project in the UK to use a high voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission system, and will be able to power more than 4.5 millions UK homes, approximately 5% of the UK’s estimated electricity generation.
