Sol Wind Experience
The experience behind Sol Wind included providing HSE management support during the Moray East Offshore Wind Farm foundation installation campaign.
Working within a complex offshore construction environment, the role involved overseeing health and safety performance across project activities, supporting contractors and offshore teams, monitoring compliance with project procedures and ensuring HSE requirements were maintained throughout the foundation installation programme. The position required close coordination with project management, installation teams and contractors involved in the offshore works, with a focus on maintaining safe working practices during heavy-lift, piling, jacket installation and associated marine operations.
Client
Moray Offshore Windfarm (East) Ltd
Location
Moray Firth, Scotland — approximately 22 km from shore
Duration
May 2019 – December 2020
Role
HSE Manager
Sector
Energy
Scope
Offshore Foundation Installation • Pre-Piling • Jacket Installation • Heavy-Lift Operations • Offshore HSE Management
Key Activities
01
HSE management across offshore foundation installation activities
02
Supporting offshore piling and jacket installation operations
03
RAMS and risk assessment review
04
Supporting toolbox talks and safety briefings
05
Monitoring corrective actions and HSE observations
06
Supporting continuous improvement of project safety performance
Outcome
The offshore foundation installation campaign was successfully completed on 26 December 2020, when the final jacket foundation was installed. This completed the foundation programme for all 100 wind turbines and three offshore substation platforms despite significant challenges including the COVID-19 pandemic, international border restrictions, adverse weather and disruption to the planned installation programme.
Moray East is a 950 MW offshore wind farm located in the Moray Firth off the north-east coast of Scotland. The development consists of 100 Vestas V164 9.5 MW turbines and three offshore substation platforms, with the site located approximately 22 km from the Scottish coastline.
The foundation programme represented a major offshore engineering campaign. Three-legged jacket structures were used for each turbine and offshore substation platform because of the project's deeper-water location. A total of 309 pin piles were installed into the seabed before the jacket structures were positioned and secured.
DEME Offshore's scope included the engineering, procurement, construction and installation of 100 wind turbine foundations and three offshore substation foundations. Forty-five wind turbine jackets and the three offshore substation jackets were fabricated by Lamprell, while the remaining 55 turbine jackets were produced by Smulders at facilities in Belgium and Newcastle.