Van Oord completes monopile installations at Windanker offshore wind farm

This achievement involved the largest monopiles Van Oord has ever installed, made possible by earlier upgrades to its heavy lift installation vessel, Svanen, which is now equipped to manage next-generation offshore wind monopile foundations.

Van Oord’s scope of work included loading the monopiles at the fabrication site in Spain and transporting them to the Port of Rønne, Denmark. Manufactured by a joint venture between Navantia and Windar, the monopiles rank among the largest ever installed by Van Oord, with a diameter of 10 m, lengths of 70.6 – 86.6 m, and weights of up to 2145 t. From the port, they were lifted using MTC cranes and towed by two tugs to the installation vessel, Svanen.

Van Oord used specialised techniques to protect marine life from harmful noise levels during monopile installation. Bubble screens created a curtain of air bubbles around the work area to absorb and reduce sound waves, while a Hydro Sound Damper net provided extra noise reduction.

In line with Van Oord’s ambition to achieve net-zero emissions, renewable fuel was used to power the compressors for the bubble screens, cutting greenhouse gas emissions for this activity by up to 86%. This sustainability initiative was made possible through a joint effort with Iberdrola, Van Oord, and Hydrotechnik Offshore, who shared the costs of using renewable fuel.

Building on this effort, in partnership with Skyports Drone Services, long-range drone technology was deployed as part of an innovative pilot project. The goal was to transport items from the shore to the offshore installation site, reducing reliance on supply vessels and lowering the project’s environmental footprint. Van Oord is now the first marine contractor to perform Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) drone flights to vessels in a wind farm under construction.

Joost van Wiechen, Project Manager at Van Oord, commented: “Completing the transport and installation of all monopiles at the Windanker offshore wind farm marks an important milestone for the project. This achievement reflects the dedication and expertise of our teams, the excellent collaboration with our client Iberdrola, and the outstanding performance of Svanen. We are proud to have installed our largest and heaviest monopile to date, which demonstrates our commitment to enhancing the energy transition and delivering sustainable solutions for the future.”

Located in the German Baltic Sea, around 45 km northeast of the island of Rügen, Windanker will add 315 MW of capacity to Iberdrola’s Baltic Hub, supplying enough renewable energy to power approximately 315 000 households.

Van Oord’s remaining scope will be delivered in two phases. The first involves transporting and installing 21 transition pieces, scheduled for completion by December 2025. This will be followed in 1Q26 by the installation of the inter-array cables, part of Van Oord’s EPCI scope, which involves interconnecting the turbines and offshore substation and supporting energy transmission throughout the wind farm.

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Read the article online at: https://www.energyglobal.com/wind/05122025/van-oord-completes-monopile-installation-at-windanker-offshore-wind-farm/