Gwynt y Môr Windfarm: Weekly Progress Report, 19th November 2012

This is a summary of the weekly notice of operations for the Gwynt y Môr Offshore Windfarm issued on 19th November 2012 to harbour masters and sea users.  This notice describes progress with construction, recent operations, work planned for the next 7 days, and provides a list of vessels operating on the site with their contact details.

Wind Farm Construction Status

Progress with construction progress is illustrated in a map here, and summarised below:-

• Monopiles: 60 installed, 100 remaining
• Transition pieces: 53 installed, 107 remaining
• Export cables: 1st cable pull into OSP East commenced 21st October 2012.
• Array cables: work not commenced

Navigation Hazards

There are presently a number of navigation hazards in and around the windfarm area.  These include:-

• Unlit objects – there are presently 11 unlit monopiles and transition pieces within the windfarm boundary.  Our latest update about these hazards can be accessed here.
• Exposed monopiles – there are currently five exposed monopiles, which may be submerged at certain states of tide.  These are detailed in our previous notice here.

The location of these hazards is shown in a map here.

Work carried out over past 7 days

The following work has been carried out in the past week:

• Stanislav Yudin continued foundation installation duties assisted by support vessels Anglian Monarch, Smit Angola and Union Boxer.
• Penrhos Bay, Malltraeth Bay, Chinook, Scirocco and Penrhyn Bay utilised as Crew Transfer Vessels when required and sailed from Liverpool Canada Dock 3.
• Colwyn Bay and Kinmel Bay utilised as Crew Transfer / Stand by vessel as required and based at Liverpool Marina.
• Choice has been on guard vessel duties (see Notice to Mariners 13 here).
• Cable barge Cable Enterprise has been ploughing from OSP East to mid line joint junction.
• Multi purpose tug Vortex has handed duties back to Fairplay 27.
• Smit Barge 12 has been on standby in Vittoria Dock.
• Viking Barge 5 has been transporting components to site, assisted by tugs Smit Buffalo, Smit Beluga, Union Boxer & Union Emerald.
• Viking Barge 3 has been transporting components to site, assisted by tugs Smit Buffalo, Smit Beluga, Union Boxer & Union Emerald.
• Toisa Warrior continued with grouting operations, following Stanislav Yudin‘s transition piece installation programme.
• Terramare 1 continued with diving operations (see Notice to Mariners 18 here)
• Friederich Ernestine carried out cleaning trial and grouting operations at wind turbine location J7J, made a visit to port and has returned to E10A.

Work planned for next 7 days

The work planned for the next 7 days on the site is:

• Stanislav Yudin will continue installation of monopiles and transition pieces supported by Smit Angola, Anglian Monarch and Union Boxer.
• Tremadoc Bay, Colwyn Bay, Kinmel Bay, Penryn Bay, Penhros Bay, Malltraeth Bay, Chinook and Scirocco will be utilised as Crew Transfer / Stand by vessels running out of Liverpool Marina and Canada Dock, Liverpool.
• Choice will remain on station as guard vessel.
• Cable barge Cable Enterprise and support vessels Fairplay 27, Whalsa Lass and MCS Ailsa will plough from OSP East towards the mid line joint location.
• Viking Barge 3 and Viking Barge 5 will transport components to the windfarm area assisted by tugs Smit Buffalo, Smit Beluga, Union Boxer & Union Emerald on a regular basis.
• Toisa Warrior will continue grouting operations as transition pieces are installed at Gwynt y Môr Offshore Windfarm.
• DSV Terramare 1 will continue diving operations on site.
• Friederich Ernestine will continue cleaning, drilling and grouting operations.

List of vessels at site for next 7 days

The vessels that will be operating on the site over the next 7 days and their contact details are given below.  We have linked up the vessel names to MarineTraffic.com so that with just one mouse click you can find out more about their current location and recent activity.