Foundation piling operations completed at Moray East Offshore Wind Farm

DEME Offshore is pleased to announce thatits work on the foundation structures for the Moray East Offshore Wind Farm has reached another key milestone, with all 37,000 tonnes of pin piles for the project now installed in the Moray Firth concession area.

Having designed the piles to contend with a complex and varied seabed geology, this stage of the project required DEME Offshore’s specialist installation vessel ‘Apollo’ to carefully drive each of the 309 piles into place withinstrict positional and vertical tolerances. This highly precise operation was achieved through the use of innovative pile engineering and the development of a patented piling template, designed to integrate with the jack-up legs of ‘Apollo’.

As well as this, DEME Offshore developed a special underwater drilling tool to cope with hard and rocky layers and relief drilling to install the piles in these challenging conditions. 

DEME Offshore was supported by the services of a number of specialist UK companies, and particularly notes those which conducted heavy fabrication works at Arnish and Methil, and those that provided onshore logistical services via facilities at Invergordon.

DEME Offshore looks forward to the second stage of offshore works when its newbuild, next generation offshore installation vessel ‘Orion’ will integrate 103 jacket foundation structures and three topside modules with the pin piles now in place.

Bart De Poorter, General Manager DEME Offshore, comments: “This major project milestone highlights our technical expertise whereby we are delivering innovative solutions for the most challenging projects in the offshore wind industry. We would like to thank our partners and stakeholders in this project for the successful collaboration. Our teams will now fully focus on the preparation of the installation of the foundations, which will be the very first project for our giant new offshore installation vessel ‘Orion’.”

DEME is a world leader in the highly specialised fields of dredging, marine engineering and environmental remediation. The company can build on more than 140 years of know-how and experience and has fostered a pioneering approach throughout its history, being a front runner in innovation and new technologies.

DEME’s vision is to work towards a sustainable future by offering solutions for global challenges: a rising sea level, a growing population, reduction of CO2 emissions, polluted rivers and soils and the scarcity of natural resources. Although DEME’s activities originated with the core dredging business, the portfolio diversified substantially over the decades, including dredging and land reclamation, solutions for the offshore energy market, infra marine solutions and environmental solutions.

While the company’s roots are in Belgium, DEME has built a strong presence in all of the world’s seas and continents, operating in more than 90 countries worldwide. DEME can rely on 5,200 highly skilled professionals across the globe. With a versatile and modern fleet of over 100 vessels, backed by a broad range of auxiliary equipment, the company can provide solutions for even the most complex projects.