First monopile foundation installed at 1.4 GW Offshore wind farm in UK

Van Oord’s offshore installation vessel Aeolus has installed the first monopile foundation at the 1.4 GW Sofia Offshore Wind Farm located 195 km off the UK’s North East coast on Dogger Bank in the North Sea. 

RWE contracted Van Oord for the design, engineering, procurement, construction and installation (EPCI) of the monopile foundations and array cables for this project. In the coming months, Van Oord will install a total of 100 monopile foundations. The monopiles have a diameter of up to 8.8 m, a length of up to 92 m and a weight of up to 1,530 tonnes.

The GBP3 billion (US$3.81 billion) wind farm site covers an area of almost 593 sq km and features 100 SG 14-222 DD offshore turbines each having a 14 MW capacity. The annual power generation is estimated to be enough for nearly 1.2 million homes. The project is expected to become fully operational by the year 2026.