All 51 monopiles and 51 transition pieces installed
On Tuesday, 17 August 2010, Goliath placed the last of the 51 transition pieces in the Walney 1 offshore wind farm in its position, finalising the foundation installation.

After an intensive installation process of four month and five days, and ahead of the time schedule, all foundations are now in place. The installation process was favoured by calm weather in the first period, giving a good start for the project.

At the end of the rainbow there is a wind turbine.

No observations of mammals and porpoises during piling 
During the actual piling, a marine mammal observer has circulated in the area looking for signs of mammals in the area in order to make sure that there is no piling activity when they are in the vicinity, but this has not been reported in any instances.

Cranes at project base in Barrow demobilises temporary
At the project base in Barrow, the crane company Weldex is currently demobilising as the last monopile and transition piece have left the site. The first shipment of monopiles for Walney 2 is expected around March 2011, and as the installation phase for Walney 2 will be twice as intensive as for Walney 1, using two vessels for the installation process, the planning process has started in order to ensure a suitable set up. 

Offshore activity booming and offshore accommodation
Offshore the activity is booming. Daily, more than 30 vessels are working in the area and last week the vessel Wind Ambition arrived at the area. Wind Ambition is a floating hotel, which Siemens has chartered to ensure efficient accommodation for their installation and commissioning crew.
Wind Ambition can accommodate 137 sleeping guests right next to the site, minimising the transport time needed. The floating hotel has a long UK/Danish history as it was formerly named 'King of Scandinavia' and served as ferry on a route between Harwich/Newcastle and Esbjerg (Denmark) for a number of years.

Wind Ambition. Photo: C-Bed.

Wind Ambition can accommodate 137 sleeping guest, right next to the site minimizing the transportation time needed. The floating hotel has a long UK-Danish history, as it was former named "King of Scandinavia", and served as ferry on a route between Harwich/Newcastle and Esbjerg (Denmark) for a number of years.

Ten complete turbines installed
As of 20 August 2010, Ten complete turbines have been installed. The installation vessel Kraken left the installation for a few days to carry out a routine repair in the harbour of Dublin, but has now returned. Lately, the turbine installation has been affected by poor weather conditions in the area, bringing the work to a stop, and the prognosis for the coming days is described as marginal.

Kraken loading wind turbines in Mostyn.




Installation in process. The lower part of the tower has been placed.




First blade fitted in the in the beginning of the dusk.

Offshore cabling
The export cable was planned to be laid as one 45-kilometre long cable, running the full distance from the offshore substation to the onshore substation in Heysham. Approximately two kilometres off the coast of Heysham, the cable was damaged, and it was necessary to cut the cable. The damage has resulted in constructive changes for the cable laying and a number of tests have been conducted. As soon as the weather permits, the laying of the export cable will be resumed, starting from the offshore substation and meeting the first part of the cable two kilometres off the coast where the two cable ends will be joined. The cable laying is expected to take 20-22 days and the joining of the two cables is scheduled to take one week.

Array cables
The first five array cables have been placed in the offshore wind farm by the cable barge Stemat 82. Before the cable is laid on the sea bed, the cable end is carefully pulled through the pre-installed cable tube, also known as J-tube, on the foundation. The cable connects to the next turbine, or at the end of the row, to the offshore substation.  The cable is finalised by pulling it through the cable tube. After each installation, the fibre optical cable inside the array cable is tested, and the cable is ready for final installation when the turbine has been installed.
Later this month, the vessel VOS Sympathy will arrive, and by the help of a remotely operated submarine vehicle (ROV) the cable will be flushed two metres down into the sea bed.

Onshore cabling and substation installation for Walney 1 near completion

The onshore cable installation work for Walney 1 is almost complete. In Heysham, the transition joint at the sea defence wall has been backfilled. All cables have been pulled and jointed and the last joint bay has currently been backfilled.
The commissioning work on the onshore substation in Heysham is ongoing. The cable termination at the 132kV switchgear is finished as well as the cable termination at the reactor and the harmonic filter.
The harmonic filter compound installation is complete and commissioning is ongoing.

Onshore cable installation for Walney 2 to begin
At the same time, the work to establish the cable connection for Walney 2 has begun. Walney 2 will be connected by a subsea cable to shore at Cleveleys. The cable comes ashore under the beach in front of Thornton Gate and continues underground to Hillhouse Industrial Estate,  where a new substation is being built to transfer the electricity to the grid of Electricity North West (ENW) & the National Grid. The first installation works are scheduled to start late summer 2010.

Further information on the actual work in Cleveleys is available on www.visitCleveleys.co.uk/windfarm.