The 56 turbine windfarm will use two types of steel foundations: suction bucket jackets and monopiles. The innovative suction bucket design consists of three legs welded together in a jacket structure, standing on top of three giant suction buckets anchoring the foundation to the seabed.
ST3 Offshore, a leading European serial manufacturer of offshore steel foundations, is to fabricate 20 suction bucket jackets for the Borkum Riffgrund 2 offshore windfarm. As part of this agreement, H&W will manufacture and export a significant number of suction buckets – supporting up to 80 jobs in Belfast. The suction buckets manufactured by H&W will be exported from the UK to ST3’s advanced serial manufacturing plant in Stettin, Poland, for fitting prior to foundation installation in the German Bight (north Sea) during 2018.
International Trade Minister, Greg Hands, said: “This multi-million pound contract is a boost for high-skilled manufacturing jobs in Northern Ireland, and further demonstrates the UK’s leadership in offshore wind. Harland and Wolff’s innovative designs and expertise can help make renewable energy projects like Borkum Riffgrund 2 possible, as UK exports help tackle climate change across the world.”
Jonathan Guest, Director of Business Development at Harland and Wolff, said: “H&W is delighted to be involved in the Borkum Riffgrund 2 project, continuing to support manufacturing jobs in Belfast and contributing to UK exports. We are committed to the retention of manufacturing skills in Northern Ireland and projects such as this enable us to both develop our in-house capability and support the local supply chain.”
Norman Skillen, Managing Director, ST3 Offshore UK Ltd, said: “ST3 Offshore continues to see future possibilities for the UK offshore wind supply chain and we are delighted that H&W can play a key role in the competitive production of suction bucket jackets for the Borkum Riffgrund 2 project.”
Casper Frost Thorhauge, Deputy Programme Director, Borkum Riffgrund 2, said: “DONG Energy is a pan-European company and the UK is a strategic market for us. We have a growing number of UK offshore windfarms, including four currently in construction, and more in the pipeline. We have been working hard to build and develop a UK supply chain, so we are delighted to see UK firms exporting their expertise to our European projects, demonstrating that the UK can lead the world not only in offshore wind capacity, but create a world-leading competitive supply chain too.”
