The company was awarded the contract by OWP Butendiek GmbH & Co KG, a company managed by German developer and wind farm operator wpd AG. The contract commences on 1 January 2015 and has an initial duration of 5 years. It incorporates the subsea inspection and maintenance of the foundations of the wind turbines at Butendiek as well as the offshore substation and the subsea cables. These operations will be performed from the port of Havneby on the Danish island of Rømø.
The inspection part of the contract involves the preparation of a maintenance plan to be approved by the German Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency BSH (Bundesamt für Seeschifffahrt und Hydrographie), internal inspections inside the foundations, external inspection of the foundations below water (to be conducted by unmanned ROV equipment) and a bathymetric survey of scour protection and cable routes.
Butendiek is a 288MW offshore wind farm located in the German North Sea, approximately 32 kilometres west of the island of Sylt. The water depth in this area ranges from 17 to 22 metres and wpd AG will operate 80 wind turbines and one offshore substation in the project area. Ballast Nedam has designed, supplied and installed the foundations for the wind farm with the final foundation being installed in September.
This is the first inspection and maintenance contract Ballast Nedam has acquired outside the Netherlands, where the company has been providing inspection and maintenance services for the foundations of the Dutch offshore wind farms Egmond aan Zee and Prinses Amaliawindpark. The contract for the latter will end in 2014 with the new contracts becoming effective from 1st January 2015.
Ballast Nedam’s offshore inspection and maintenance portfolio, including the new contract, covers the balance of plant of 140 wind turbines and related infrastructure with a combined capacity of 408 MW. Furthermore, Siemens has selected the company as preferred party for the inspections and maintenance of the foundations and cables of the Westermeerwind wind farm, which will start delivering power at the end of 2015.
Ballast Nedam maintains an active presence in the housing, mobility and energy sectors through its asset management business unit. The company targets its strategic focus at successfully acquiring and carrying out integrated projects, in the Netherlands and internationally. With regard to the offshore wind market, Ballast Nedam provides cost-effective solutions and services for foundations from initial design through to inspection and maintenance. Condition based monitoring enables the company to collect insights into the behavior and aging of offshore wind structures, thus securing maximum availability during the remaining life time at optimized operational costs.
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