Sequential dredging and reclamation for the construction of the princess elisabeth island, the world's first offshore energy island
Type:
Presented during:
CEDA Dredging Days 2024
Authors:
K. Van Doorslaer, A. Jacobs, P.-Y. Guillermin, M. Brouwer, E. Bijl and R. Somers
Abstract
The Belgian part of the North Sea, about 40 km offshore, will become home to the world's first offshore energy island, named Princess Elisabeth Island. The Employer Elia has awarded this project to TM Edison, a joint venture between DEME and Jan De Nul. The design is done by RHDHV and SBE, reviewed by owner's engineer CDR-IMDC-Tractebel Engineering-Svasek. The extended abstract is a cooperative work between all parties and will be presented by the contractor. The island with dimensions of 520m long by 230m wide consists of 23 caissons, each 58m long, 28m wide and 22m high (excluding wave walls up to 10m). On the island, array cables from the Princess Elisabeth wind zone in Belgium and future interconnectors with nearby countries such as United Kingdom and Denmark will arrive. Up to 3.5 gigawatt (GW) of Belgian wind energy will be connected on the island. This update is an important step towards Europe's goal in having 300 GW of offshore wind energy by 2050.
Keywords: Energy island, caissons, hopper dredging, reclamation, morphological modelling, scour