CAPE Holland chosen by Van Oord to deliver CAPE VLT-640 Quad for Ecowende's Hollandse Kust West Offshore Wind Project

Date: 2024-06-11

CAPE Holland, a renowned innovator in offshore industry foundation installation equipment and a Venterra Group company, has secured a prestigious contract from global leading installation contractor Van Oord. The contract entails the provision of a CAPE VLT-640 Quad spread.

This innovative CAPE Vibro Lifting Technology will be instrumental in contributing to the ambitious ecological goals that allowed Ecowende to win the tender for the wind farm permit. As one of the many innovations on the project, the CAPE Vibro Lifting Technology will be used to considerably reduce piling noise compared to traditional hammer installations. The monopiles, with a diameter up to 9.3 meters and weighing nearly 1,500 tons, will be driven with the CAPE VLT to final penetration where possible or finished using an impact hammer. Van Oord’s new installation vessel “Boreas” will be using its 3,000 ton crane to install the monopiles.

Dick van Wijngaarden, Business Development Manager at CAPE Holland, expressed enthusiasm, stating: 

I am delighted that after a long period of promoting the Vibro Lifting Technology to the industry, we have been selected for this first large scale implementation of this innovative technique at a Dutch offshore wind farm to use the Vibro Lifting Tool to help reduce the environmental impact during the installation phase.

Jan Willem Elleswijk, Project Director at Van Oord: 

We are pleased to announce this agreement with CAPE Holland and are excited to apply this innovative technique for the first time on such a large scale in the construction of a Dutch offshore wind farm. We look forward to working together on the realization of the Hollandse Kust West offshore wind farm.

CAPE Holland is part of Venterra Group – a global offshore wind services company, supporting the industry’s rapid expansion and leading role in the energy transition. It is building a service offering across the wind farm lifecycle, comprising Engineer, Build and Support services through a combination of acquisition and investment to generate accelerated growth in the fast-expanding market.

David Matthews, Chief Commercial Officer at Venterra Group, commented: 

We’re proud to have CAPE Holland’s market-leading Vibro Lifting Technology and expertise included as part of Venterra’s foundation offering. We’re pleased to be chosen by Van Oord and we’re looking forward to supporting their team to successfully install the monopile foundations for this Ecowende project.

Ecowende – a joint venture between Shell, Eneco, and Chubu – will take a huge step by building the most ecological wind farm to date. By doing so, Ecowende wants to help make a positive contribution to biodiversity and thus accelerate the large-scale roll-out of offshore wind in the Netherlands and beyond. The Ecowende wind farm (Hollandse Kust (West) plot VI) will be located about 53 kilometers off the Dutch coast, near IJmuiden. With an installed capacity of approximately 760 MW, it can green about 3% of the current Dutch electricity demand. The plan is to put the wind farm into operation in 2026.