Offshore Construction Start

Offshore construction for the Ormonde Offshore Wind Farm effectively commenced on 30 April 2010, when the jack-up rig Buzzard began pile-driving operations at the offshore project site in the Irish Sea. Between 30 April 2010 and 21 July 2010, Buzzard carried out pile-driving at 30 generator locations and at one substation location, establishing the driven piles that would later receive the steel lattice jacket foundations and the offshore substation structure for the 150MW wind farm. This marks the first clear phase of offshore construction activity at Ormonde, moving the project from preparatory and onshore works into full offshore build-out at the turbine and substation positions. Contemporary accounts of the project note that Ormonde’s offshore works began in 2010, with offshore construction activities progressing through that year so that by the summer the steel lattice quadruped jacket foundations were installed across the field. The marine piling campaign described in the Crown Estate survey documentation therefore represents the initial mobilisation and execution of heavy offshore construction, enabling subsequent foundation grouting, jacket installation and, later, turbine installation. These works underpinned Vattenfall’s development of Ormonde, which ultimately comprised 30 REpower 5M turbines on four-legged steel jackets, and set the stage for the first turbine to be installed in March 2011 and all turbines to be completed by August 2011. The start of pile-driving on 30 April 2010 is thus the practical offshore construction start date for Ormonde, initiating the main offshore installation sequence that would lead to full project completion the following year.