Renewables suppliers Sif Group and Smulders have snapped up a supply contract for a major North Sea offshore wind project.
Dogger Bank Wind Farm developers SSE Renewables and Equinor have placed an order with the consortium for monopoles and transition pieces for the first two phases of the project around 80 miles off the coast of Yorkshire.
SSE declined to provide a financial value for the contract, which is subject to financial close with a decision expected before the turn of the year.
Dogger Bank is being developed in three multi-billion pound phases; Dogger Bank A, Dogger Bank B and Dogger Bank C.
Collectively they will become the world’s largest offshore wind farm with an installed capacity 3.6 gigawatts (GW), enough to power as many as 4.5 million homes.
The first two phases of the project will require 190 foundations to accommodate the 190 Haliade-X turbines being supplied by GE Renewable Energy.
Each base comprises a monopole and a transition piece and will be placed in water depths ranging from 18 to 63 metres.
Sif will be responsible for the fabrication and supply of the monopiles and primary steel for the transition pieces, as well as for the marshalling of all foundation components, at its Maasvlakte 2 Rotterdam terminal.
Smulders will manufacture the secondary steel and assemble, coat and test the fully equipped transition pieces.
Production is expected to get underway at the firm’s facilities in Poland and Belgium in May 2021.
The assembly, which will be done at the Hoboken facility, is scheduled to start in September 2021 and will take approximately 10 months.
Transportation and installation for the foundations will be undertaken by OHT, with installation due to begin summer 2022.
The consortium has committed to bringing in the UK supply chain to work on the transition pieces in close cooperation with the Dogger Bank team.
Dogger Bank project director, Steve Wilson, said: “This tier one contract with the Sif Group and Smulders is the final one to be confirmed by Dogger Bank Wind Farm for the first two phases, and marks a significant milestone for the project.
“We look forward to working with the joint venture in a collaborative and innovative way, to manufacture the foundations that will support the world’s largest and most powerful wind turbines in operation, and which will provide renewable electricity to more than 4.5 million UK households.”
Fred van Beers, chief executive of Sif Holding, said: “Dogger Bank Wind Farm joint venture partners SSE and Equinor are strong, experienced and reputable customers. Through our facility at MV2 we are well positioned to serve the Dogger Bank Wind Farm project and we look forward to a continuation of the excellent relationship that dates back many years already. With this biggest award ever to Sif, the projects still in exclusive negotiation and the strong tender pipeline, Sif’s mid-term order pipeline is now looking very robust”.
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