Seaway7’s vessels Seaway Strashnov and Seaway Alfa Lift have started the second phase of the development of Dogger Bank, the world’s largest offshore wind farm. The two vessels have already commenced the heavy lifting and installation of monopile foundations and transition pieces for the Dogger Bank B phase. 

The team recently completed the installation of all 95 transition pieces on Dogger Bank A, thus concluding the installation of the foundations for the first phase of the project.

“These installation milestones are the result of years of commitment and diligence from the project team and its delivery partners. As the world’s largest wind farm of its kind and due to the deployment of new turbine technology, every aspect of the wind farm has required us to come up with new innovative design and engineering solutions that will shape the future construction of offshore wind globally. We extend our thanks and congratulations to the many companies and individuals who’ve risen to this challenge and contributed to the milestone we’re celebrating today,” Olly Cass, Dogger Bank Wind Farm Project Director said.

“We are happy to welcome Seaway Strashnov back to the project to commence foundation installation on Dogger Bank B – leading on from the vessel’s good performance last year on Dogger Bank A. After introducing our brand-new heavy lift vessel Seaway Alfa Lift to the project in October, the vessel operated through the high weather season installing transition pieces on Dogger Bank A, and now continues this work in phase B. The foundation installation scope is making excellent progress, enabled by our strong collaboration with our client Dogger Bank Wind Farm and our subcontractors,” Wouter van Dalen, Project Director, Seaway7, said.

The monopile foundations and transition pieces provide a solid and stable base for the scale of GE Vernova’s groundbreaking 13MW Haliade-X turbines. The monopile and transition piece structures were manufactured by Sif and Smulders and are being installed 80 miles off the Yorkshire coast by tier-one contractor Seaway7.

The monopiles weigh up to 1,424 tonnes each and can measure up to 72.8 metres in length. The Dogger Bank transition pieces feature a pioneering split-level design to support safe installation and operation and have a record-breaking 8-metre flange to connect the monopiles and transition piece structures.

Confirmation of this offshore milestone on Dogger Bank B follows on from the successful installation of the offshore HVDC platform for the second phase of the wind farm in April.

A total of 277 monopiles and transition pieces will be installed across all three phases of the wind farm, with completion due in 2026.