Van Oord completes foundation works for Borssele III & IV offshore wind projects

Van Oord’s offshore installation vessel Aeolus has completed the installation of 77 foundations for the Borssele III & IV wind farm.

Aeolus was deployed for the transport and installation of the foundations. Van Oord’s cable-laying vessel Nexus has also installed 4 out of the 12 cable strings. The project will shortly start with the installation of the 9.5 megawatts (MW) wind turbines supplied by MHI Vestas. As the Balance of Plant contractor, Van Oord is responsible for the design, engineering, procurement, construction, and installation of the foundations and inter-array cables.

The Borssele III & IV wind farm is being built 22 kilometers off the coast of the Province of Zeeland and will be one of the largest offshore Dutch wind farms. The Borssele III & IV wind farm will have a total installed capacity of 731.5 MW, providing sufficient power for approximately 825,000 Dutch households. The wind farm is part of the offshore wind roadmap drawn up by the Dutch government. The roadmap details the areas designated in the North Sea where offshore wind farms can be built.

At the end of December 2016, the Blauwwind consortium won the tender to build the Borssele III & IV offshore wind farm. Blauwwind consists of Partners Group (45%), Shell (20%), DGE (15%), Eneco Group (10%), and Van Oord (10%). The consortium has signed Power Purchase Agreements with Shell and Eneco Group, which stipulate that they will both purchase 50% of the energy generated by the wind farms for a period of 15 years.