Rock placement for export cables begins at Poland's Bałtyk 2 and 3 offshore wind projects

en.Wedoany.com Reported - On September 11, Boskalis' newly commissioned subsea rock installation vessel Windpiper completed the first batch of rock placement at Poland's Bałtyk 2 and Bałtyk 3 offshore wind projects, officially launching the vessel's first commercial project. Windpiper had previously sailed to Norway to load nearly 45,000 tonnes of rock in a single shipment, then headed to the Polish Baltic Sea work area, where it primarily uses a fallpipe to provide cover protection for the export cables running from the two offshore wind farms to the Polish mainland.

Windpiper has a rated rock carrying capacity of 45,500 tonnes, a length of 227 metres and a beam of 40 metres, with total installed power of more than 31,000 kW, equipped with 7 thrusters and a DP2 dynamic positioning system. The vessel is fitted with both a moonpool fallpipe and an inclined fallpipe, enabling it to carry out seabed rock placement as well as precise rock protection around structures such as cables and wind turbine foundations. After completing about 18 months of conversion, the vessel was named in Rotterdam in July this year and completed sea trials in the North Sea, before moving on to its first project in the Baltic Sea.

Bałtyk 2 and Bałtyk 3 are jointly developed by Equinor and Polenergia Offshore Wind Poland, located approximately 37 kilometres and 22 kilometres off the coast near Ustka and Łeba in Poland respectively. Each of the two projects has an installed capacity of 720 MW, totalling 1.44 GW. The projects plan to install 100 Siemens Gamesa SG 14-236 DD wind turbines, each with a capacity of 14.4 MW, and are scheduled to achieve first power in 2027 and full operation in 2028.

Windpiper's role here is the export cable protection works, not wind turbine foundation installation. Boskalis and Van Oord are jointly involved in the offshore construction related to Bałtyk 2 and Bałtyk 3. On this occasion, Windpiper used its inclined fallpipe to place rock in designated areas along the export cable route, providing mechanical protection for the subsea section of the cables before they reach the Polish landfall.