Framo pumps used for wind turbine foundation installations

The wind farm will have 56 turbines, 20 of which have been installed using suction bucket technology, developed jointly by Framo and NGI, while the other 36 are supported by monopiles. Altogether, 60 suction buckets were pumped into place using suction/vacuum technology and now provide the basis for the installation of giant 8.5-MW turbines, the first time that units of this size have been used in the German North Sea. The MHI Vestas turbines will rise 109m above the sea and have a wing span of 164m.
Jørgen Brandt Theodorsen, Framo’s area sales manager, said: “It’s a milestone for Framo. This is the first time our technology has been used to pump so many wind turbines in the same wind farm and it is quite unique that so many wind turbines are anchored with suction anchors in one field.”
“The suction bucket jacket technology for offshore wind farms has gone from concept to reality during the last five years,” Thomas Langford, director for Offshore Energy at NGI, added. “Besides lowering costs due to the increased installation speeds compared to traditionally piled jackets, the concept provides for easer decommissioning and practically noise-free installation.”
In a recent statement, Denmark’s Ørsted, previously Dong Energy, announced that the 450-MW wind farm had fed electricity into the German grid on August 4th for the first time, although full commissioning will not be completed until early next year.