Aibel sails the Hornsea 3 Link 1 topside to Its Yard in Haugesund
Aibel sails the Hornsea 3 Link 1 topside to Its Yard in Haugesund
Bon Voyage! Aibel, one of our premium members in partnership with Ørsted and Hitachi Energy, set sail the first Hornsea 3 Link 1 topside from Map Ta Phut, Thailand to its yard in Haugesund for outfitting, before heading to its final destination: Ørsted’s Hornsea 3 offshore wind farm in Europe.
Completed by Aibel in partnership with Ørsted’s Thailand-based team and Hitachi Energy, the structure once installed will rise 70m above sea level or 1.2 times the height of the Leaning Tower of Pisa!1 The topside needed 38 special Self Propelled Motor Transporters – or SMPTs – with 380 axels under the support frames to move it onto the vessel in preparation for the voyage.
It is now on a 55 day journey of more than 13,000 nautical miles to Haugesund, Norway for the installation and commissioning of high voltage equipment so it is ready for use offshore. The structure will travel on the aptly-named Heavy Transportation Vessel BigLift Barentsz. Prior to sailaway, the load and the voyage was blessed by Buddhist monks in a special ceremony.
Luke Bridgman, Managing Director, Hornsea 3, said:
“The sailaway of the first of our Hornsea 3 offshore converter station topsides is an important milestone. It marks the culmination of three years of hard work by our teams in Europe and Thailand, and the start of our next phase in delivering the world’s single biggest offshore wind farm.
“This huge structure is an impressive piece of engineering, which so far has been completed safely, efficiently, on time and on budget. It’s a testament to the skill of our workers, as well as a visual aid demonstrating the complexity and scale of Hornsea 3.”
Hornsea 3
In the summer 2022, Aibel was awarded the contract for two HVDC converter platforms for Ørsted’s Hornsea 3 offshore wind project. The contract for the two platforms, Hornsea 3 Link 1 and 2, is an EPCI contract where Aibel is responsible for engineering, procurement, construction and installation. The design will follow Aibel and Hitachi Energy’s proven concept. This means that the platforms will have a lean design with a steel jacket structure. The unmanned platforms will be operated from shore and accessed for maintenance by SOV (Service Operations Vessel) or helicopter. The two platforms will have a combined capacity of up to 2.852 GW to serve the offshore wind turbines in the Hornsea 3 project in the UK sector of the North Sea.
The Hornsea 3 project is headed from Aibel’s Oslo office, while construction of the two platform topsides will take place at Aibel’s yard in Thailand. They will then be transported to Haugesund, where they will be outfitted with Hitachi Energy’s latest generation HVDC converter valve technology, prior to final completion and commissioning. The platform topside for the Hornsea 3 Link 1 is scheduled to arrive in Haugesund in Q2 of 2025. Forecast sailaway to the Hornsea field is in 2026.
Facts
Contract: EPCI (engineering, procurement, construction and installation)
Client: Ørsted
Value: Each platform represents a major contract for Aibel (major = more than NOK 2.5 billion)
Delivery: Hornsea 3 Link 1 in 2026.
The Hornsea 3 project will be the single largest offshore wind project in the world. It is expected to produce enough energy to meet the average daily needs of over 3 million UK homes. Hornsea 3 is Ørsted’s third project in the Hornsea Zone, where Hornsea 1 and Hornsea 2 are operational.
Thai-Norwegian Chamber of Commerce would like to congratulate to all partners involved in this exciting milestone! It’s great to see the first Hornsea 3 Link 1 topside set sail from Thailand to Haugesund. The journey of 13,000 nautical miles is a testament to the scale and complexity of this project. I wish you all the best in the next phase of delivering the world’s single biggest offshore wind farm!
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