Denmark's Ramboll wins job on 400-MW offshore wind park in China

Danish engineering company Ramboll has won a EUR-4-million (USD 4.5m) design contract for one of China’s biggest offshore wind projects -- the 400-MW SPIC Binhai North Phase 2 wind farm.

The company said today it will design the 100 steel turbine foundations, the 400-MW substation, concept for the transformers, breakers and cables, and it will also be developing the design basis for waves, currents and geotechnical conditions.

Ramboll pointed out that this will be the first time a single consultant will design such a large portion of an offshore wind project. The company was the head designer of the turbine foundations for the first phase of the project.

Due to the soft soil conditions at the site and the fact that the area is prone to earthquakes, the design task is different from what Ramboll is used to in Northern Europe, it noted. The foundations will be placed 60 metres (m) below seabed, in order to support the turbines in water depths of 14 m-18 m.

Huadong Engineering Corp awarded the design contract to the Danish company, while the project developer and owner is State Power Investment Corp (SPIC). The plan is to complete the offshore wind farm in half the time required for similar wind farms in Europe, Rambol said. First power from the SPIC Binhai North wind farm is scheduled for December 31, 2016.

“The growing offshore wind industry presents an opportunity for increased exports, not only for Ramboll’s spearhead service – designing foundations for offshore wind turbines – but also for all the other disciplines that we provide when designing wind farms. We hope that this milestone project will pave the way for future projects in China,” said Soeren Juel Petersen of Ramboll.

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