Big Picture: Tailor-made jackets await installation

DENMARK: This is not a scene from HG Wells' The War of the Worlds, although these structures are almost cosmic in size.

by Staff 30 June 2016

(pic: Bladt-Industries, Wikinger Offshore Wind Farm,- berdrola)

These are some of the 41 offshore wind jacket foundations made by Bladt Industries for Iberdrola's 350MW Wikinger offshore wind project.

They are dockside, being prepared for delivery to the Baltic Sea site in Germany at Bladt's Lindo facility in eastern Denmark. Each structure is 62 metres high, weighs around 600 tonnes and has a 23-square metre footprint. They will be placed in water depths of up to 42 metres to support Adwen's 5MW turbine.

Wikinger will have 70 turbines in total, with Bladt providing 41 foundations, and Spanish firm Navantia supplying the remaining 29 jackets. Installation is due to start later this year, and the project is expected online in 2017.