First monopile installed for East Anglia THREE offshore wind farm

ScottishPower has installed the first foundation of the East Anglia THREE offshore wind farm, officially kicking off the project's offshore construction programme.

The monopile, manufactured by Joint Venture Navantia Seanergies Windar Renovables (JVNW), was installed by the Seaway Ventus jack-up installation vessel, which was fitted with a custom-built mission equipment spread.

The monopile stands at 83.89m tall, 10.6m in diameter and weighs 1,800 tonnes. According to ScottishPower, it's the largest installed to date from a jack-up vessel in Europe.

Seaway7 is installing all of the East Anglia THREE monopiles and transition pieces.

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Charlie Jordan, ScottishPower Renewables CEO, commented: “The installation of our first East Anglia THREE foundation is a real wow moment for both ScottishPower and Iberdrola. It represents a mammoth feat of engineering, skill and a huge amount of work. We’re talking an incredible 1800 tonnes of steel, safely and securely lifted and then precisely placed in the exact spot in an area the size of almost 43,000 football pitches. We’ve never built anything of this scale before!"

The 1.4GW wind farm will consist of 95 monopiles. JVNW is fabricating 45 of the 95 foundations for the project, with the remaining 50 being manufactured by Haizea.

Each monopile will support a 14.7MW Siemens Gamesa turbine that will generate a total of 1400MW of clean energy, enough to power the equivalent of more than 1.3 million homes.

The first of the 95 transition pieces, which weighs more than 400 tonnes, has also been installed.

Lloyd Duthie, Seaway7 vice president UK, Ireland & Asia, said, “We are proud to have successfully installed the first foundation for East Anglia THREE. This achievement comes after two years of preparation, resulting in Seaway Ventus installing the largest monopile from a jack-up vessel in Europe. It really is testament to the scale of engineering that can be achieved together with partners across the supply chain.”

The installation of all 95 turbines is expected to be completed by early 2026.