Boskalis has secured a multidisciplinary role in the development of the Moray West offshore wind farm in Scotland. The contract is said to be worth between EUR 50-150 million.

On behalf of its client, Boskalis will carry out a large number of the activities contributing to the development of this renewable energy project in the coming twelve months. Ocean Winds, the 50:50 joint venture between EDP Renewables and ENGIE, awarded the contract.

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XXL monopiles

The Moray West offshore wind farm is located off the east coast of Scotland in the Moray Firth. The 882 MW wind farm will have the capacity to power up to 640,000 homes in United Kingdom. The development consists of sixty offshore wind turbines and two substations, all fixed on monopile foundations.

Based on the large turbine size (14.7 megawatts) and water depth (up to 54 meters), extremely large XXL monopiles weighing up to 2000 tonnes each will be required for this development.

Watch a video about the Moray West offshore wind farm below.

Heavy transport

Boskalis has already carried out offshore geophysical site survey that also included survey for identification of unexploded ordnance. In the coming months, Boskalis will transport a large number of the monopiles from the Far East to discharge at the port of Invergordon, near the project site. These monopiles – eight per voyage – will be transported on the heavy transport vessel White Marlin.

Prior to the installation of the foundations, Boskalis will carry out the seabed preparation activities by installing a layer of rock that will act as a filter and scour protection for the monopiles.

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Bokalift 2

Subsequently, the company will deploy its DP crane vessel Bokalift 2 for the installation campaign. With its 4000-tonne crane, the Bokalift 2 will install the monopiles using its new upending hinge and motion-compensated pile gripper.

Furthermore, in addition to a very large impact hammer, a vibro-hammer will als be deployed on this project. As a part of its campaign, Boskalis will also install two substations with their respective transition pieces.

The picture is a still from the video below.

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