Record Suction Bucket Jacket Foundation Installation

The final turbine for the European Offshore Wind Deployment Centre (EOWDC) was installed on Saturday with the project recording what is believed to be the world’s fastest installation of a gigantic suction bucket jacket foundation. One of the 1,800 ton suction bucket jacket foundation was installed in two hours and 40 minutes from the time the installation vessel entered the offshore site until deployment was complete. 

The turbine installation comes just nine weeks after the first foundation for the 11-turbine EOWDC scheme off Aberdeen Bay was deployed in the North Sea. The 93.2MW windfarm, which is scheduled to generate first power in the summer, will produce the equivalent of more than 70 percent of Aberdeen’s domestic electricity demand and annually displace 134,128 tons of CO2.

The EOWDC is the first offshore wind project to deploy this kind of foundation at commercial scale and is the first to pair them with the world’s most powerful turbines. It features nine 8.4MW turbines along with two 8.8MW models which both represent an industry first in that they are the first of this power capability to be deployed commercially in the offshore wind industry. MHI Vestas has specially designed the turbines which all have a tip height of 191 meters (627 feet). Each blade is 80 meters (262 feet) long.

The project reinforces project partner Vattenfall’s vision to be fossil free within one generation.