DONG Energy is one of the leading energy groups in North Europe and bases its business on procuring, producing, distributing and trading in energy and related products in Northern Europe.

DONG Energy has around 6,500 employees, is headquartered in Denmark and last year generated DKK 73 billion (EUR 9.8 billion) in revenue.

As a forward thinking company, DONG Energy is always looking at new ways to harness renewable energy. Two recent projects for DONG Energy include the West of Duddon Sands project – which is a 50/50 joint venture between DONG Energy and ScottishPower Renewables – and the Westermost Rough project – a joint venture between DONG Energy (50%), Marubeni Corporation (25%) and the UK Green Investment Bank (25%). Together the two wind farms represent more than 500MW of green electricity which will be added to the UK Grid.

The West of Duddon Sands project is being run from a dedicated £4 million operations and maintenance base in Burrow-in-Furness. In June 2014, the team behind the offshore wind farm project celebrated after successfully installing the final turbine on the site. The 108th turbine was installed on the 389MW project on Tuesday 2nd June 2014 after it was hoisted into position by the Sea Installer.

DONG Energy Project Director for West of Duddon Sands, John Hill, said:

“We were delighted to reach this huge milestone at this project and it was a testament to the great work of the West of Duddon Sands team in Barrow and Belfast that this final installation ran smoothly. There was a lot of hard work from everyone on the project.”

ScottishPower Renewables Project, Charlie Jordan, said:

“It was a fantastic achievement to complete turbine installation on West of Duddon Sands. We faced some very challenging conditions, including one of the stormiest winters in recent history, but managed to continue working on schedule.

“Over 1,000 people were employed on this project and everyone worked incredibly hard to help us reach this milestone.”

The foundation and turbine work was carried out by two of the world’s most advanced installation vessels: Swire Blue Ocean’s Pacific Orca and the Sea Installer, which is owned by A2SEA. Commissioning work is now taking place on the project and is currently scheduled to reach completion by the end of the year. Siemens supplied the 3.6MW turbines and is responsible for the commissioning phase of the project.

Whilst commissioning work takes place on the West of Duddon Sands project, DONG Energy’s Westermost Rough project continues to take shape. In August, the first of 35 Siemens 6MW turbines were successfully erected.

DONG Energy Programme Director for Westermost Rough, Duncan Clark, said:

“This is a major landmark in the construction phase of this project and its achievement is a great credit to the DONG Energy team and our supply chain partners. This is the first time we have installed the Siemens 6MW turbine with a 154m diameter rotor on a commercial scale following smaller demonstration projects, and it represents a step change in our ability to provide more energy output from fewer turbines.”

CEO Offshore of Siemens Wind Power, Michael Hannibal, said:

“We are very proud to achieve this milestone on the way to enhancing efficiency and lowering the cost of offshore wind energy with our innovative direct drive technology.”

Following the installation of the first turbine, Westermost Rough began generating power for the first time in September.

Lead Commissioning Manager for Westermost Rough, Sam Hall, said:

“The process has gone extremely well. The energisation process up to first power has been achieved thanks to a huge effort from the entire onshore substation team, the offshore construction site team, our contractors and all line organisations that support us.

“We energised all the way through the transmission’s assets of the wind farm in early August and have been working since on the installation and commissioning of the first batch of turbines. Over the coming weeks the first turbines will be generating clean, green electricity and then supplying it to the UK Grid.”

The Westermost Rough offshore wind farm marks the first time that the next generation Siemens 6MW turbine is to be used on a commercial scale – an important step on DONG Energy’s cost of energy reduction strategy. The offshore work on the project is being carried out by one of the world’s most advanced installation vessels, A2SEA’s the Sea Challenger.

At present the turbine installation on Westermost Rough is scheduled to reach completion during the first half of 2015. Once fully operational, Westermost Rough offshore wind farm will have the capacity of 210MW, producing enough electricity to power approximately 210,000 UK homes.

Construction work on the project is being managed from DONG Energy’s office in the Fish Dock, Grimsby on Britain’s east coast, by a team of approximately 50 people. In addition, work is also currently underway onshore at the Royal Dock in Grimsby to construct the permanent home for the Operations and Maintenance team who will service the wind farm over its 25 year lifetime.

DONG Energy has more than 20 years’ experience in offshore wind farm projects and to date has built more offshore wind farms than any other company in the world. Projects include Barrow offshore wind farm; Celtic Array; Lincs offshore wind farm; and Gunfleet Sands offshore wind farm.

The UK is one of DONG Energy’s primary markets for wind energy and at present the company has four wind farms in operation. In addition to West of Duddon Sands and Westermost Rough, DONG Energy has a strong pipeline of projects under construction and was the largest partner in the world’s largest offshore wind farm, the London Array which was opened by Prime Minister David Cameron in July 2013.

Moving forward, DONG Energy and MHI Vestas Offshore Wind have reached a conditional agreement for the purchase of 32 units of MHI Vestas Offshore Wind’s V164-8.0MW offshore wind turbine. The turbine will be installed at the Burbo Bank Extension project in Liverpool Bay and the agreement is the first commercial order for this powerful offshore wind turbine.

For more information about DONG Energy, or to follow the progress of West of Duddon Sands and Westermost Rough, please visit: www.dongenergy.co.uk.

Carl C. A/S

Carl C. A/S specialises in the design and construction of on-shore and off-shore lattice towers for wind prospecting and power performance assessment. Having been in operation for 45 years the firm has established an impressive portfolio working on meteorological projects for on-shore and off-shore wind farms all over the world.

Most recently the firm has worked on the West of Duddon Sands off shore wind farm project designing and constructing the wind measurement tower together with the main contractor RES Offshore, for the end client, ScottishPower Renewables, Iberdrola and DONG Energy.

Karsten Ahle, Structural Engineer from Carl C. A/S, said:

“This WDS project was important to be involved in due to the new design tasks it presented. Some years ago the tower and its foundation were designed separately. Now the design is a combined effort between the tower designer and the foundation designer, forming a combined system. In addition, the WDS project required comprehensive fatigue FEM analysis of details. We pride ourselves on undertaking both the design and production for an array of projects of this nature. We provide a complete package.”

Scaldis Salvage & Marine Contractors NV

Scaldis Salvage & Marine Contractors NV is a dynamic, innovative and expanding marine offshore contractor specialising in the transport and installation of large structures in the marine environment. The firm’s core business and expertise lies in heavy lifting. It works in five distinct market sectors of oil and gas, renewables, decommissioning, civil construction and salvage heavy lifting.

Scaldis has been in operation since 1995 and since its inception the firm has worked with a number of market-leading clients in the renewable sector including, Dong Energy, RWE, Centrica, E.ON, Vattenfall and EnBW. Its work in the renewable sector has been dominated by the installation of offshore substations including those for West of Duddon Sands, Borkum Riffgrund, Lincs, Walney 1&2, Ormonde, London Array, Thornton, Amrumbank West, Butendiek, Nordsee Ost and Baltic 2 offshore windfarms.

In 2013, Scaldis undertook the transport and installation package at the West of Duddon Sands offshore substation for Dong Energy. The jacket, topside and foundation piles were collected from the Belgium port of Hoboken and delivered on a transport barge to the installation site in the Irish Sea.

The installation was performed using Scaldis’ heavy lift vessel “Rambiz”. The jacket installation involved positioning and placing of the jacket on the seabed, stabbing and driving four piles to their target depth, final levelling of the jacket and grouting of the pile/jacket connection. Once the grout had obtained the required strength, Rambiz lifted the complete topside into its final position on the jacket.

Annelie Doedens said:

“Taking on challenges, providing solutions and working as a team is a real strength within all parts of Scaldis. Our company is known for ‘thinking outside of the box’ when it comes to installation methodologies. Our team is very experienced but is equally willing to consider new ideas. This combination has enabled Scaldis to find solutions where we know others have failed. We understand many of the difficulties faced by our clients and our open-minded and innovative approach has resulted in some great solutions.

We aim to initiate discussions with all stakeholders as early as possible in pursuit of the optimum solution. Many good ideas, including optimisations, develop during the early stages of the planning and the early involvement of all the concerned parties ensures there is sufficient time to incorporate all beneficial ideas into the scheme.”

CWind Ltd

CWind Ltd specialise in the provision of integrated services to the offshore wind industry, including the installation of turbine foundations, cables and substations. The company was formed in 2010 and since this time has been involved in a number of prestigious projects including London Array, Gwynt y Môr, West of Duddon Sands and Westermost Rough.

Working on Westermost Rough, CWind Ltd is providing a full turnkey service which supports the installation of array cables. The service includes the supply of logistics, equipment, technicians and project management.

On the West of Duddon Sands project, CWind Ltd provided secondary foundation works, the confined space safety and the vessels required to undertake the work. The company removed the levelling systems, completed and tested the earthing requirements, provided confined space management and monitored atmospheric conditions. Additional works provided by CWind Ltd included corrosion protection and TP inspections ready for handover to DONG Energy and ScottishPower.

CWind Ltd provides a comprehensive package to its clients and by covering all elements of the required work, CWind Ltd ensures tight communication within the teams and work plans that correspond to client requirements.

Working on projects such as these is very important to CWind Ltd. Petra Ernst-Gutierrez, Marketing & Communications Manager for CWind Ltd, said:

“We were delighted to support the construction of Westermost Rough and West of Duddon Sands. Our unique integration of services has created efficiencies and cost-savings to the projects that we are proud of. In an industry that is working to cut the cost of energy we are keen to contribute in any way we can.”

For more information about CWind Ltd, please visit: www.cwind247.com.