Boskalis secures contract for Aberdeen offshore wind farm project
Royal Boskalis Westminster N.V. (Boskalis) has been awarded the Offshore Balance of Plant contract by Vattenfall for the construction of Aberdeen Offshore Wind Farm, also known as the European Offshore Wind Deployment Centre. Following the announcement on 29 June stating that Boskalis was the preferred contractor, the contract has now been formally awarded, the Company said in a press release.
The project will consist of eleven wind turbines with a capacity of 92.4 MW. The contract includes all offshore elements of the wind farm, with the exception of the wind turbine supply. The contract carries a value for Boskalis of well in excess of EUR 100 million.
Aberdeen Offshore Windfarm is located approximately 3 kilometers off the coast of Aberdeen, United Kingdom. The scope of the activities for Boskalis includes the design, procurement, fabrication, supply, transportation and installation of eleven suction bucket jacket foundations and scour protection, the procurement, supply, transportation and installation of 66kV inter array and export cables by Boskalis subsidiary VBMS and the provision of the wind turbine transportation and installation vessel.
The use of suction bucket jacket foundations in conjunction with the large wind turbines and the use of high capacity 66kV power cables makes this project unique.
The offshore project execution is scheduled to commence in September 2017. The foundations and cables will be transported and installed with own assets including a fallpipe vessel, transport barges, a large floating sheerleg crane and a cable laying vessel. The installation of the wind turbines will be carried out with an installation vessel supplied by Boskalis. Completion of the project is expected in the second quarter of 2018.
Boskalis' strategy is aimed at benefitting from key macro-economic factors which drive worldwide demand in our markets: expansion of the global economy, increase in energy consumption, global population growth and the challenges that go hand in hand with climate change. This project is related to the development of generating renewable energy due to climate change and increasing energy consumption.
Royal Boskalis Westminster N.V. is a leading global services provider operating in the dredging, maritime infrastructure and maritime services sectors in the maritime, coastal and delta regions. The services include the construction and maintenance of ports and waterways, land reclamation, coastal defense and riverbank protection. Boskalis offers a wide variety of marine services and contracting for the oil and gas sector and offshore wind industry as well as salvage solutions (SMIT Salvage). Furthermore, Boskalis has a number of strategic partnerships in harbour towage and terminal services (KOTUG SMIT Towage, Keppel Smit Towage, Saam Smit Towage and Smit Lamnalco). With a versatile fleet of 1,000 units Boskalis operates in around 75 countries across six continents. Boskalis has over 8,200 employees, excluding its share in partnerships.