The Veja Mate offshore wind farm is located 130km north of Eemshaven, in the German Exclusive Economic Zone of the North Sea. The project is owned by the Highland Group, Siemens Financial Services and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners.
It will produce more than 1.6TWh of green, renewable electricity a year, which is equivalent to the annual consumption of approximately 400,000 German homes and is expected to offset more than 18 million tonnes of CO₂ from the atmosphere.
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Veja Mate offshore wind farm make-up
The Veja Mate offshore wind farm will be installed with 67 Siemens SWT-6.0-154 direct drive wind turbines supported by monopiles installed at water depths between 39m and 41m. The turbines have a rated capacity of 6MW each, rotor diameter of 154m and hub height of 80m above sea level. The location witnesses an average wind speed of more than 10m/s.
The monopiles, with a diameter of 7.8m and weighing approximately 1,300t, will be fabricated by EEW at Rostock, Germany, whereas the transition pieces will be fabricated by Bladt Industries at Aalborg, Denmark.
Construction of the Veja Mate project
Construction of the Veja Mate offshore wind park project will begin with foundation installation, which is expected in April 2016. The seabed preparation work at the offshore site began in February 2016. The turbine installation will commence in March 2017 and be completed by the end of 2017. The project is expected to be fully operational by January 2018.
Contractors involved with the Veja Mate offshore wind project
Siemens was awarded a turbine supply and 15-year service and maintenance contract in July 2015. Seajacks UK was contracted to provide the Seajacks Scylla installation vessel for the transport and installation of the monopiles in the same month.
Royal Boskalis Westminster (Boskalis) was awarded a contract worth €500m ($557.89m) for the design, procurement, fabrication, supply, transportation, installation and testing of the foundations for the wind farm in a 50% partnership with VolkerWessels (Volker Stevin International) in June 2015.
Volker Stevin International will provide the design and engineering services for the permanent works and the handling tools during the transport and installation of the foundations. JDR will deliver hang-offs, connectors and a range of other cable accessories as well as providing topside termination and testing services.
Smulders was contracted to provide design, production, transportation and installation of a topside and jacket for the offshore wind farm. Sormec was contracted to supply a M350/3S telescopic boom crane for the offshore wind farm in October 2015.
EMS Maritime Offshore was awarded the contract to guard the offshore wind farm with its fleet of guard vessels. SMC was contracted to deliver full-scope marine coordination and vessel management on the project.
Veja Mate grid connection
The wind farm will be connected to the power grid through the existing BorWin 2 offshore substation, which was built by Siemens for TenneT.
CG, an Avantha Group Company, in association with other consortium partners Cofely Fabricom and Iemants, was awarded a contract for the turnkey supply and installation of a high-voltage offshore substation for the project in May 2015. The contractual scope included connecting the turbines to the German high-voltage grid via the BorWin2 converter platform. The substation is based on Overdick’s MOAB platform concept.
Siem Offshore Contractors (SOC) was awarded a €100m ($111.83m) contract for the turnkey supply and installation package of the inner-array grid cable system in April 2015.
Financing for the Veja Mate project
The final investment decision for the Veja Mate project was made in July 2015. The project is being financed through a combination of equity and debt. It is supported financially by eight international lenders, including Eksport Kredit Fonden and KfW, contributing up to €1.275bn ($1.42bn) debt.
KfW contributed €430m ($478.89m) for the offshore wind farm project under the Offshore Wind Energy Programme established in 2011.
K2 Management was selected as technical advisors, Green Giraffe as the financial advisor and CMS as the advisor for legal structuring as well as project financing.
