Wind turbine installation at Walney 2 completed
In the night of 22 September, the last blade on the last wind turbine at Walney 2 was fastened.
However, it took waiting until the installation vessel, Kraken, succeeded in finding the weather window which made it possible to install the last blade on the last wind turbine in the wind farm. Now, all 51 wind turbines of Walney 2 are installed. The blade was installed just five months and thirteen days after the first foundation was driven into the seabed, and together with Walney 1, Walney 2 is the world’s largest offshore wind farm with a total capacity of 367MW. After the successful installation, the installation vessel, Kraken, demobilised and left the area.
New benchmarks for the construction of wind farms Besides being the world’s largest offshore wind farm, Walney Offshore Wind Farms are setting new benchmarks for the construction of wind farms.
Multi-contract principle Walney Offshore Wind Farms have been constructed according to the multi-contract principle which means that all project-controlling and construction settlement are managed by the project organisation. With some 348 direct supplier contracts, the project organisation has been in full control of all elements in the installation processes, and the multi-contract principle enables instant mitigation should any delay or faulty deliveries occur. The close cooperation with the contractors and suppliers makes it possible to conduct a risk hedging based on the project’s interests and make a total priority of the resources.
Optimised installation – At the same time, the project optimised the installation time through parallel installation. The installation of Walney 1 was planned to take one year, whereas the installation of Walney 2 was planned to be effected in half the time. Through parallel installation activity, the focus has been to utilise the favorable weather windows of the summer season. And through tight planning and logistics, it was possible to install Walney 2 in only six months.
