Jan De Nul to Install Foundations for Major Offshore Wind Project in Scotland

Luxembourg-headquartered Jan De Nul has reported that it is installing the foundations for one of Scotland's largest offshore wind projects.

The 1,080 MW Inch Cape Offshore Wind Farm in Scotland recently reached financial close and is now entering the construction phase. Jan De Nul will use its heavy-lift installation vessel Les Alizés to transport and install the monopile foundations off the Angus coast. Once completed, the wind farm is expected to generate enough green energy to power half of Scotland's homes.

Developed by Inch Cape Offshore Limited, the wind farm is expected to significantly contribute to the latest UK government target of 43 to 51 gigawatts of offshore wind installed by 2030. Once operational, it will save 2.5 million tonnes of CO₂ emissions per year compared to fossil fuels, added Jan De Nul.

Inch Cape, a joint venture between ESB and Red Rock Renewables, will be the UK's first offshore wind farm to install 15MW Vestas turbines. Engineering and project preparations are already underway, with transport and installation of the monopile foundations set to begin in late 2025.

Measuring up to 110 metres long and weighing up to 2,500 tonnes (equal to the weight of about 2,500 cars), the monopiles will be loaded from a newly built quayside at the entrance to the Port of Leith in Edinburgh.

Jan De Nul will deploy the Les Alizés heavy-lift vessel for this project, as its third consecutive assignment. Les Alizés is customised for the transport and installation of offshore energy infrastructure. In December 2024, the vessel completed its first project with the installation of 107 monopile foundations on German wind farms Gode Wind 3 and Borkum Riffgrund 3. This spring, it will continue its mission with the installation of 72 monopiles on RWE's Thor, Denmark’s largest offshore wind farm to date.

David Debaere, Manager Offshore Energy Structures at Jan De Nul, said: "Looking at the journey of Les Alizés, it is clear that Jan De Nul is playing an important role in Europe's transition to renewable energy. From a wind farm in Germany to another in Denmark, and one in Scotland - and this is just the beginning. But it is not only about the vessels, it is just as much about our skilled co-workers who operate them. They are the ones carrying out the demanding work at sea. They are the heroes of the energy transition."

John Hill, Project Director for Inch Cape Offshore Limited, added: "There are few vessels globally with the capability to install the XXL monopiles we have chosen for Inch Cape, so we are delighted to have Jan De Nul's Les Alizés as part of our construction fleet. Our installation programme tied in nicely with a gap in the vessel's planned activity with RWE. We are appreciative of this unique industry collaboration."

The Jan De Nul vessel is on long-term charter to RWE. Anticipating downtime between its own projects, the energy leader has already taken steps to make the vessel available to other developers. The Inch Cape project is an example of offshore wind developers pooling their resources to accelerate the deployment of offshore wind capacity.

Jon Darling, Head of Construction Delivery at RWE, stated: "As one of the world's leading offshore wind developers and operators, we are aware that our long-term charter vessels from Jan De Nul may not always be fully utilised on our projects. We are highly sensitive to the pressures on the global offshore industry, created by the limited availability of these highly capable construction vessels. We are pleased to make the vessel available for this unique and highly collaborative initiative, supporting Inch Cape’s continued drive to deliver new UK energy infrastructure and to evolve towards net zero."