Project summary

Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI) appointed us as the principal contractor to construct and install one of the world’s largest offshore 7MW prototype wind turbines at the Fife Energy Park in Methil, Scotland. Capable of powering 4,800 homes, the wind turbine has a nacelle height of 110m and tip of blade height of 196m from mean sea level. The complex project was part of SHI’s initial £100m investment in the Fife Energy Park where it has based its European wind energy headquarters.

The detail

Completed in less than 12 months, core elements of the programme consisted of marine works, the transportation and off-loading of components from the quayside, turbine installation, mechanical and electrical installations, and all temporary works. The wind turbine was located on a steel jacket founded through drilled sockets, 37m deep into the underlying levels. The rock socket technique implemented also allowed for fabrication and verticality tolerances and contributed to noise reduction, which was important as the wind turbine is located close to shore.

Showcasing our technical capacity, the installation of the steel jacket (500 tonnes), transition piece (500 tonnes) and wind turbine components required the employment of the DEMAG CC12600 crawler crane (1,600 tonnes) with the assistance of an additional crawler crane (600 tonnes).