E.ON stated that all the 60 foundations at the wind farm have been installed in the seabed, ahead of schedule. The foundation installation work is claimed to have been completed in two and a half months. The monopiles, each weighing 1200 tons were tied up 40m deep into the seabed.
Arkona offshore wind farm is located 35km northeast of the island of Rügen in Germany, with a capacity of 385MW. It will include 60 of 6MW class turbines from Siemens.
Clean electricity generated from the wind farm can be supplied to about 400,000 German households. The wind farm is expected to start operations in 2019. The wind farm could offset about 1.2 million tonnes of CO2 per year.
Locations of the foundations have been mapped on this basis to simplify installation and to avoid the use of a drilling rig. E.ON says that the steel foundations have been individually adapted to suit the soil conditions. These steel foundations are 81m long and have a diameter of up to 7.75m.
Arkona is also claimed to the first project in the offshore industry to have used a new technology to protect against corrosion of the steel foundations with the monopile installation. The new coating process can reduce environmental impact during the wind farm’s operation when compared to the conventional method.
Image: Arkona offshore wind farm progressing rapidly. Photo: Courtesy of E.ON SE.
