Jan De Nul’s heavy lift vessel Les Alizés has been getting ready for its first assignment, the transport and installation of 107 monopile foundations and one offshore substation topside at Ørsted’s Gode Wind 3 and Borkum Riffgrund 3 offshore wind farms.

The vessel departed the CMHI Haimen Shipyard in China in January this year, and headed to the Port of Gdansk where it is being prepared for the first mission in Germany.

Jan De Nul officially started the T&I contract for the two offshore wind farms in March this year. A first batch of 3 monopile foundations has left Steelwind’s yard in Nordenham (Germany) to Eemshaven (The Netherlands), which is part of Groningen Seaports.

Subcontractor Wagenborg has deployed its Wagenborg Barge 8 for the transport of the monopiles foundations from Steelwind’s yard in Germany to marshalling harbour Eemshaven in The Netherlands.

Les Alizés, the floating power lifter

“Les Alizés is specifically designed for lifting, loading, transporting and installing the heaviest offshore wind turbine foundations and components. With her crane of 5,000 tons, she can lift 27 Boeing 747s at once without much effort,” Jan de Nul pointed out in its brief statement on social media.

The main features of the vessel are a main crane of 5,000 tons, a deck loading capacity of 61,000 tons and a deck space of 9,300 square metres. With these characteristics, the vessel can easily transport the heavier future foundations, several in one trip, to the offshore installation site, with direct benefits in planning, fuel consumption and emissions reduction.

German wind farms

Ørsted has taken final investment decision (FID) on the two German offshore wind farms Gode Wind 3 and Borkum Riffgrund 3 at the end of 2021.

Borkum Riffgrund 3 and Gode Wind 3 will have export capacities of 900 MW and 242 MW, respectively, and will be located in the German North Sea close to Ørsted’s existing offshore wind farms Borkum Riffgrund 1&2 and Gode Wind 1&2.

Gode Wind 3 is expected to be commissioned in 2024, and Borkum Riffgrund 3 is expected to be commissioned in 2025. The power from both projects will be generated by Siemens Gamesa offshore wind turbines, each with a capacity of 11 MW and a 200-metre rotor diameter.