SCOTLAND’S ABERDEEN OFFSHORE WIND FARM CONTRACT AWARD-ED TO BOSKALIS
The Aberdeen Offshore Wind Farm also called the European Offshore Wind Deployment Centre (EOWDC) is developing a turbine project facility off the Scottish coast in Aberdeen Bay. In late July a program for offshore construction was confirmed with Royal Boskalis Westminster N.V. (Boskalis) being awarded the Offshore Balance of Plant contract by Vattenfall for the construction of the wind farm. The project will consist of eleven wind turbines with a capacity of 92.4 MW. Boskalis’ contract includes all offshore elements of the wind farm with the exception of the wind turbine supply. The contract carries a value for Boskalis of well in excess of €100 million (approximately US$110 million).
Vattenfall is one of the world’s leading wind power developer and operator and operates wind power turbines in Sweden Denmark Germany the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. It is wholly owned by the Swedish state.
Aberdeen Offshore Windfarm is located approximately three kilometers (less than two miles) off the coast of Aberdeen Scotland United Kingdom. The scope of the activities for Boskalis includes the design procurement fabrication supply transportation and installation of eleven suction bucket jacket foundations and scour protection the procurement supply transportation and installation of 66kV inter array and export cables by Boskalis subsidiary VBMS and the provision of the wind turbine transportation and installation vessel. The use of suction bucket jacket foundations in conjunction with the large wind turbines and the use of high capacity 66kV power cables makes this project exceptional.
The foundations and cables will be transported and installed with Boskalis equipment including a fallpipe vessel transport barges a large floating sheerleg crane and a cable laying vessel. The installation of the wind turbines will be carried out with an installation vessel supplied by Boskalis. Completion of the project is expected in the second quarter of 2018. EOWDC will have an installed capacity of up to 100 MW with the potential to produce enough power for 68000 households annually.
In March of this year offshore site investigation work commenced in preparation for full construction of the project. The offshore project execution is scheduled to begin a year from now in September 2017.
In addition an extensive scientific research and monitoring program will be carried out with the purpose of determining the environmental impacts of offshore wind. Aberdeen Offshore Wind Farm Limited has designated a budget of approximately €3 million (US$3.3 million) with up to half of it being funded by the European Union. This budget will be dedicated solely to environmental research into the interactions between offshore wind the natural world and the local human environment. The goal is to develop environmentally sustainable offshore wind energy using sound science to provide empirical evidence-based methods to advance and streamline environmental impact assessments.
The EOWDC’s Scientific Research and Monitoring Panel is an entity established by Aberdeen Offshore Wind Farm Limited under direction of the Scottish Minister. The panel’s objective is to steer the allocation of research funding to those areas most in need of further research. Participant organizations include: Marine Scotland Science Scottish Natural Heritage Scottish Environment Protection Agency RSPB Scotland Joint Nature Conservation Committee Whale and Dolphin Conservation and The Crown Estate.
As of August 2016 the Aberdeen Offshore Wind Farm Limited was open to Expressions of Interest (EoIs) from parties looking to put forward projects under the remit of the Scientific Research and Monitoring Pro-gram. Applications for prequalification were being accepted throughout August with a closing date of September 2 2016.
