Wind Energy – HKN
Last Monday the topside for TenneT’s Hollandse Kust (north) transformer platform was placed on a floating barge in the port of Antwerp.
Two years after the first steel cut, the topside, built by the EQUANS/Smulders combination, is ready to be installed. This makes it the first of the three topsides they are delivering. ‘North’ will be followed by ‘West Alpha’ and ‘West Beta’. According to project manager Guus Siteur, the ‘North’ platform will be fully operational next year (2023) and operator Crosswind’s wind turbines can be connected to it.
Following the load out, the 3,500-tonne steel structure will be secured and prepared for transport to its final workplace at sea in the coming weeks.
“After a two-day sea voyage, the topside will then be installed 18.5 kilometres off the coast of Egmond aan Zee. There, the jacket has already been firmly anchored to the seabed since November last year,” says Guus Siteur, offshore platform project manager for TenneT. “With the help of the installation vessel Orion, the topside of 47 metres long, 35 metres wide and 25 metres high will be placed on the jacket and then welded in place.”
