

Liebherr TCC 78000 Launches Floating Foundations for Kriegers Flak
In the port of Rostock, the first monopiles were launched into the water for the offshore wind farm “Kriegers Flak”. The Vattenfall wind farm, which is currently under construction, is located south of the Danish coast. It will supply up to 600,000 households with electricity in the future and will thus become Denmark’s largest offshore wind farm. The launching of the monopile foundation piles will be handled by Liebherr’s heavy-duty gantry crane type TCC 78000, inaugurated in 2019. The manufacturer of the monopiles is the offshore wind specialist EEW Special Pipe Constructions GmbH, also based in Rostock.
After a long period of preparation, the first of a total of 72 monopile foundations at the Rostock overseas port were launched from the quayside into the water by the TCC 78000 and its experienced operating team at the beginning of May. For direct launching into the water, the otherwise hollow piles, which are open at both ends, must be sealed watertight in advance with specially constructed sealing caps, so-called plugs. The sealing condition thus created enables the monopile foundation piles, which are over 65 metres long and weigh up to 800 tonnes, to float. The plug installation is carried out on an area of almost 9000 m² on the Liebherr company premises. After launching into the water, a deep-sea tugboat tows the monopile foundations out to the “Kriegers Flak” wind farm where they will be lifted for installation by Van Oord’s heavy lift crane Svanen.

Liebherr TCC 78000 heavy-duty crane launches 72 monopiles into the water for the largest Danish offshore wind farm “Kriegers Flak”

The Liebherr TCC 78000 lifts monopiles with a total weight of up to 810 tonnes and a length of more than 65 metres

Van Oord’s Heavy Lift Crane Svanen on an earlier OWF Photograph : Van Oord
Source Liebherr and Van Oord