The Port of Tyne’s 200-acre Tyne Clean Energy Park secures another offshore wind customer – Van Oord – as the Port of Tyne cements its position as the region’s clean energy centre.
From Q1 2024, the port will act as the storage and marshalling base for the foundations of the 1.4 GW – or 100 turbine – Sofia Offshore Wind Farm. The contract will see the River Tyne welcome the tallest offshore vessel in the Port’s history, Van Oord’s Aeolus.
The Port of Tyne has signed a contract with the Dutch marine engineering company, Van Oord, to provide a storage and foundation marshalling base for RWE’s Sofia Offshore Wind Farm. The site will be occupied from Q4 2023, with the base operational from Q1 2024, as the business assists with the installation of the wind turbine foundations for the wind farm located on Dogger Bank in the North Sea, 195 kilometres off the coast of the UK.
Van Oord will join the Port of Tyne as our newest green energy customer – adding to the growing clean energy cluster at the Tyne Clean Energy Park – which is already acting as the operations and maintenance (O&M) base for Equinor to service what will be the largest offshore wind farm in the world once operational.
Van Oord’s new base will benefit from direct access to a deep-water quay and will utilise the Port of Tyne’s 200-acre Tyne Clean Energy Park, which has recently benefitted from a £20 million upgrade to its infrastructure. Enabling works will get underway in Q1 2023 to upgrade the quay strength to accommodate Van Oord’s foundation marshalling project.
Van Oord’s activities encompass the engineering, procurement, construction and installation of the wind turbine foundations and inter-array cables for Sofia.
Sofia Offshore Wind Farm is now under construction and is expected to be fully operational in 2026. Once completed it will generate enough green energy to power the equivalent of approximately 1.2 million UK homes.
The contract will see the River Tyne welcome the tallest offshore vessel in the Port’s history. Van Oord’s Aeolus is expected to arrive in January 2024, kicking off the marshalling operations, beginning an estimated 34 trips between the UK and Germany.
“We are delighted to partner with Van Oord in delivering another exciting step as we look to accelerate the region’s path towards a clean energy future,” commented Matt Beeton, Chief Executive at Port of Tyne.
He added: “The Tyne Clean Energy Park continues to be the closest major offshore wind development platform for developers operating in the North Sea, as we look to accelerate the country’s green energy revolution to triple the rate of wind turbine installation to hit the national 2030 target, creating jobs for the future and a skilled workforce for generations to come .”
