First monopile placed
At 02:20 on Sunday night 12 April 2010, the first of the 51 monopiles for Walney 1 was placed in the sea bed.



As planned the monopile was taken out to the position by two towing boats. The monopile was carefully capped at each end, enabling it to float.



Arriving at the site, the monopole was raised to a vertical position by the Taklift 7 and presented to the installation vessel Goliath. Goliath carefully drove the monopile 30 metres into the sea bed.

As this was the first of 51 foundation installations, the process was carefully monitored, but all activities proceeded according to schedule. Due to favourable weather conditions, the activities have been able to continue. As of 20 April 2010, a total of eigth monopiles have been placed.

Logistics
The heavy-lift ship Annette is transporting monopoles from Rostock in Germany to the site in the Barrow Harbour where the monopiles are stored.

Each monopile for Walney 1 is up to 56 metres tall and weighs almost 550 tonnes. The monopiles will be driven approximately 30 metres into the sea bed by a hydraulic hammer – a process which will take between two and four hours per monopile.

Later, a transition piece will be mounted on top of the monopile by a crane preparing the foundation for turbine installation. The first transition pieces from Lubmin in Germany are expected to arrive in Barrow around end of April.

Mammals and porpoises
Before the actual piling of the monopiles can take place, it is essential to make sure this can be done without harming dolphins and harbour porpoises.
A marine mammal observer vessel circulates constantly around the piling site. Onboard, observers are looking for signs of mammals in the area. They also use hydrophones in the area listening for dolphins and harbour porpoises in order to make sure that there is no piling activity when they are in the vicinity.

Groundbreaking event
The beginning of the construction process of Walney Offshore Windfarm was celebrated on 10 March 2010 where Rory McClure, Deputy Mayor of Barrow, symbolically cut the red ribbon which marked "the groundbreaking" of the Walney project. Read more .

Animation of the construction process
In order to give an impression of the construction process, the project has made an animation showing the entire construction process. The animation is available here .

The first Walney Offshore Windfarm newsletter - no. 1 April 2010
This is the first edition of the Walney Offshore Windfarm newsletter, describing the ongoing project activities. It is our intension to issue the newsletter on a regular basis until the completion of the Walney Offshore Windfarm.
Further we will offer the possibility of subscribing to our newsletter. In order to start your subscription, please send an e-mail to jenyj@dongenergy.dk , with your e-mail details, and we will give you a notification as the forthcoming editions of the newsletter appear.