DEME Offshore has successfully installed the final and 165th monopile foundation at Ørsted’s Hornsea Two wind farm, which is currently the largest offshore wind farm in the world.

The timely completion of this installation project is all the more remarkable given that it has largely taken place during the pandemic. Bart De Poorter, General Manager DEME Offshore Renewables, comments: “Last week’s milestone is the result of the seamless cooperation between all parties involved and the strong partnership with our client Ørsted. Our teams made sure that the highest safety and quality standards were established at each stage of this exceptionally complex project, and that we maximised production and supply chain efficiency. 165 foundations have been transported and installed in just one year.”

“DEME’s logistics and engineering teams have put in an extraordinary performance. They had to ensure a continual flow of components which were transported from three different fabrication ports to the base port in Eemshaven in the Netherlands. The heaviest piles weighed around 1,250 tonnes and had a diameter of 9.5 m, therefore DEME Offshore’s engineers designed specialist equipment to make the installation process as efficient as possible,” Bart De Poorter emphasises.

“We are delighted to have achieved this major project milestone safely and on schedule, despite some incredible challenges along the way,” adds Patrick Harnett, Ørsted’s Programme Director for the Hornsea Two project. This has only been possible through close collaboration and a genuine ‘one team’ approach with DEME Offshore. We look forward to the equally successful conclusion of our wind turbine generator installation scope in the coming months.”

Turbine installation on track

Currently, DEME Offshore’s sister vessels ‘Sea Installer’ and ‘Sea Challenger’ are installing the 165 8 MW Siemens Gamesa turbines. With over 100 turbines now installed, the wind farm’s generation assets are well on the way to completion.

As well as the Transport & Installation scope for the turbines and foundations, two of DEME ’s fallpipe vessels carried out the scour protection at 89 locations.

Located approximately 89 km off the Yorkshire coast, Hornsea Two will generate up to 1.4GW of clean energy for UK households when fully operational in 2022.

Hornsea Two is the third offshore wind farm project where DEME Offshore has been responsible for the installation of more than 100 foundations.