Van Oord has been awarded a contract for the transport and installation of the monopile foundations for the Nordseecluster offshore wind project in Germany.
Operated by renewables company RWE, the 1.6GW wind farm cluster will be able to generate sufficient renewable energy to supply electrical power to up to 1.6 million German households.
This will be the first project for Van Oord's offshore installation vessel Boreas (pictured), which is currently under construction.
Van Oord's scope includes the installation of 104 extended monopiles as well as the installation of the scour protection. Forty-four monopiles are planned for installation in 2025 while the remaining 60 monopiles will be in place by 2027.
Van Oord said Boreas will be one of the largest offshore installation vessels of its kind, purpose-built for the transport and installation of the next generation of foundations and turbines for offshore wind farms.
The jackup vessel has a crane capacity of more than 3,000 tonnes and will be able to install wind turbines of up to 20 MW capacity at sea. It will also be configured to operate on methanol fuel.