DEME’s Orion completes Moray West XXL monopiles job

DEME’s offshore installation giant, Orion has wrapped up the monopile installation job for Ocean Winds’ Moray West offshore wind farm. The vessel has installed 29 XXL monopiles over two months despite the hard winter conditions. 

This milestone marks a significant achievement for the industry, with the first complete XXL foundations installed for near 15 MW turbines. Specialised equipment like the Quad Vibro Hammer played a crucial role in overcoming challenging soil conditions, DEME said.

Orion transported the 29 monopiles, which weigh up to 2000 tonnes each, from the port of Invergordon and installed them in full DP mode, without the use of anchors. Orion’s specially designed and high-tech motion-compensated pile gripper, in combination with its 5,000-tonne crane and vessel ballasting techniques, enabled efficient operations despite the notorious Scottish winter weather conditions.

Lucien Romagnoli, Business Unit Director UK, Ireland & Belgium at DEME Offshore, comments: “I am proud of our fantastic team and Orion’s impressive capabilities. With the deployment of the new installation technology, we were able to complete this part of the DEME scope smoothly and efficiently. It truly demonstrates Orion’s efficiency, particularly its double-stage motion-compensated gripper. We are eager to continue the momentum with ‘Apollo’ and seamlessly complete the transition piece installation, delivering another project to the full satisfaction of our client.”

The Moray West offshore wind farm, developed by Ocean Winds in Scotland’s Moray Firth, will generate 882 MW, powering over 1.3 million homes.

Next up, DEME’s DP2 jack-up vessel Apollo will continue installing the transition pieces at Moray West, while Orion sails across the Atlantic Ocean, bound for Virginia in the US for the installation of 176 foundations for Dominion Energy’s Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind Farm.

Jan Klaassen, Business Unit Director Americas at DEME Offshore, adds, “I am looking forward to welcoming Orion back in the US, this time in the great Commonwealth of Virginia. The ‘Orion’ is scheduled to arrive in the Port of Norfolk, Virginia in late April where she will prepare for the installation of 176 foundations on the Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind (CVOW) project for our client Dominion Energy. The combined technology of the Vibro Hammer and Impact Hammer will also be used on the CVOW project, in combination with state-of-the-art noise mitigation technologies to protect marine mammals.”