RWE Innogy has commissioned Dutch company Fabricom Offshore Services to maintain the foundations of the Nordsee Ost offshore wind farm over the next four years. The contract includes the inspection and maintenance of the 49 jacket foundations of the wind turbines and the transformer substation, together with the monopile foundations of the measurement mast. The maintenance work will be carried out from the island of Heligoland commencing in summer 2014. RWE Innogy is currently constructing a two-storey operations and maintenance base there, together with a control room from which the Nordsee Ost offshore wind farm will be managed.
“The cost of maintaining foundations and wind turbines at sea is high because the stresses caused by waves and salt water are significantly higher at sea than on land. A good downstream logistics network and, in particular, expert service engineers are, therefore, a key requirement for ensuring reliable and cost-effective operations at sea”, explains Marcel Sunier, project director for the Nordsee Ost wind farm at RWE Innogy. “In Fabricom, we are pleased to have found an expert partner for our first wind farm off the German coast”.
