Moray East Welcomes Mid – Point of Jacket Arrivals From Newcastle

October 12, 2020 | Renewables | Energy Facts Staff Writer | 3min

Moray Offshore Windfarm (East) Ltd (known as ‘Moray East’) has welcomed the arrival of the 26th jacket in Nigg from Newcastle – successfully marking the half-way point of delivery of European-fabricated jackets for the project.

The jackets are the three-legged steel foundations on which electrical infrastructure is installed at sea.

The “GSMEC” – Geosea Smulders Moray East Consortium – between DEME Offshore and Smulders was awarded the full work scope for the 103 jackets required for the Moray East project, (100 for turbines and 3 for offshore substation platforms), the majority of these (55) for the wind turbine foundations are being fabricated by Smulders in Europe.

Owing to their size, the three-legged jackets structures are fabricated in two sections, upper and lower; 35 of the upper sections are being fabricated in Belgium and the remaining 20 in Spain.

The 55 lower sections are fabricated in Newcastle. The upper sections are sent from continental Europe to Newcastle at Smulders’ Wallsend facility, where they are mated with the lower sections.

The completed jackets are then sent by sea to Global Energy’s facility at Nigg, from which they are prepared for installation on site in the Moray Firth. It is anticipated that jacket transport from Newcastle will continue until the end of the year when all jackets are expected to have been fabricated and delivered.

Lieven Van Hileghem, Smulders’ Senior Project Manager for the Moray East Project said: “Thanks to the hard work of all our employees and subcontractors, Smulders mitigated several challenges, including COVID over the last couple of months. We were able to continue working on the 55 Moray East jackets while still meeting the project’s initial milestones. An achievement to be proud of! This weekend, we’re pleased to mark the 26th jacket delivery in Nigg as well as the final lower jacket sail away at our yard in Hoboken. We remain on track to deliver fully assembled jackets at a consist output ratio, all according plan.”