Saipem Wins More Offshore Wind Work for Saipem 7000

The Saipem 7000 installs a wind turbine at the Hywind offshore wind project located approximately 30 km off the coast of Aberdeenshire, Scotland. Photo courtesy Saipem

Italian oil services giant Saipem has announced multiple new contract awards related to offshore wind projects currently under development off the coasts of England, Scotland and France.

First, the Dogger Bank Offshore Wind Farms, the joint venture between Equinor and SSE Renewables, has awarded Saipem with a contract for the transportation and installation of two offshore High Voltage Direct Current platforms for the first two phases of the Dogger Bank project: Dogger Bank A and Dogger Bank B. Both platforms will have a capacity of 1.2 GW and will consist of a 2,900-ton jacket and a. 8,500-ton topside.

Once completed, Dogger Bank will be the world’s biggest offshore wind farm, located some 130km off the North East coast of England. The project is the first to use HVDC technology in the UK’s offshore wind market.

Next, Saipem has also been awarded an installation contract by Seaway 7 related to the Seagreen Offshore Wind Farm, a 1,075 MW joint venture project between SSE Renewables (49%) and Total (51%) off the East coast of Scotland. The scope of work entails the installation of 114 foundations for an equivalent number of wind turbines.

Finally, Saipem has been awarded a contract for the transportation and installation of the jacket and topside of the offshore substation at St-Brieuc offshore wind farm, located in Brittany, France, which is being developed by Ailes Marines, part of the Iberdrola group. All project management and engineering activities shall be executed by Saipem SA, Saipem’s French subsidiary established in Paris.

All three offshore installation projects will be carried out by the crane vessel Saipem 7000. Previously the Saipem 7000 was hired to mount five floating offshore wind turbines for the Highwind project in the UK North Sea.

Saipem values the contracts in the north of 90 million euros combined. The company says the contracts help to further establish the company within the renewables sector, for which a dedicated business line has been recently established within the E&C Offshore division.

“These new contracts confirm Saipem’s participation in the most relevant offshore wind farm developments and are the tangible results of a strategy which has led us to become a global reference player in the energy transition,” said Francesco Racheli, Chief Operating Officer of Saipem’s E&C Offshore Divisio. “This significant achievement has been attained by leveraging on our capabilities, our technological flexibility and our distinctive assets.”