Gallery: Suction bucket foundation at Borkum Riffgrund 1

A suction bucket foundation has been installed at Borkum Riffgrund 1
It consists of three legs welded together in a jacket structure
The jacket standing on three giant suction buckets
The structure can be installed offshore in a single trip, reducing installation time
The full-scale trial is being conducted at the project 37km off the north German coast
It is part of a collaboration with the UK's Carbon Trust Offshore Wind Accelerator
The Carbon Trust awarded Dong £6 million to build the demonstration foundation
A Siemens 3.6MW turbine will be installed on top of the foundation in October

Google Translate

A sandy seabed at Borkum Riffgrund 1 makes it an ideal environment to test the pilot foundation type.

The suction bucket foundation is designed so that it can be installed quickly and removes the need to drive monopiles into the seabed. It is also considered to be more environmentally friendly and reduces costs.

A Siemens 3.6MW turbine will be installed on the jacket by the end of October.

The UK government’s Carbon Trust as part of the Offshore Wind Accelerator (OWA) programme has backed the full-scale demonstration project.

In January, the Carbon Trust awarded £6 million (EUR 7.3 million) to Dong to build the suction bucket foundation.

Members of the OWA, including E.on, Mainstream Renewables, Scottish Power Renewables, Statkraft and Statoil will be able to use the data from the project and see how it is manufactured and installed, and evaluate the design.