Jan De Nul installs first foundation for Denmark’s largest offshore wind farm

Heavy-lift vessel, Les Alizés, installed the first of 72 monopiles for Denmark’s largest wind farm to date. When finished, the wind farm will provide enough renewable energy to power more than a million Danish households.

RWE’s Thor wind farm will have a capacity of more than 1 GW, moving significantly closer to Denmark’s goal for the energy transition. More than a million Danish households will receive renewable energy produced in the North Sea. The 72 wind turbines will find their home near the west coast of Jutland, some 22 km offshore.

Günther Fenle, Project Director for Thor at RWE, responded: “Our Thor offshore wind farm – currently under construction – will be Denmark’s largest to date. The installation of the first monopile marks a significant milestone, achieved through the collaborative efforts of everyone involved.”

Jan De Nul has a big role to play in the construction of Thor. Besides the monopile foundation and scour protection installation, the company will also install the inter-array cable system and the export cables connecting the offshore and onshore substations.

Philippe Hutse, CEO Offshore Energy at Jan De Nul, added: “RWE’s Thor offshore wind farm is one of the key projects of 2025 for Jan De Nul. This is yet another big step in building the energy transition and we will execute multiple scopes of work. For the diverse areas of expertise, we are deploying several units out of our fleet of vessels.”

The monopile foundations have lengths of up to 100 m and weigh up to 1500 t. Les Alizés picks up the foundations at Eemshaven, The Netherlands, before sailing to the installation site off the western coast of Jutland, near Thorsminde. The final monopile installation is planned towards the end of 2025.

Les Alizés is equipped with a motion-compensated pile gripper, capable of installing monopile foundations with diameters up to 13 m. Thanks to its many unique features, high level of redundancy, and unmatched capacity in terms of force, speed, and accuracy, the pile gripper allows Jan De Nul to conduct the most flexible installation solutions for monopile foundations, in the most challenging conditions.

 

 

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Read the article online at: https://www.energyglobal.com/wind/01052025/jan-de-nul-installs-first-foundation-for-denmarks-largest-offshore-wind-farm/