This month, the onshore testing campaign for the Sustainable Installation of XXL Monopiles (SIMOX) project has started. The onshore testing campaign takes place at the Port of Amsterdam.
Hydraulic pile driving (hammering) is currently the most widely used method of driving monopiles for wind turbine foundations into the seabed. Hammering, however, generates underwater noise which can have a negative impact on underwater fauna.
The SIMOX project investigates various silent technologies for the installation of monopiles, including the Gentle Driving of Piles concept, the controlled fluidisation technique, EQ-Piling, and others. Such technologies should enable the installation and decommissioning of future XXL monopiles in a wide range of soil conditions in a sustainable, cost-effective, societally and environmentally acceptable manner.
During the onshore testing campaign at the Port of Amsterdam, various drivability and lateral bearing capacity tests will be done, on various L/D and D/T ratios with extensive monitoring in the ground and on the piles.
Additionally, the project will assess the implications for decommissioning at the end of service life. The main result of SIMOX should be an improved understanding of the physics behind several promising, innovative, affordable, reliable and sustainable technologies for the installation of XXL monopiles.
Several partners are involved in the project, including: Boskalis, Deltares, Delft Offshore Turbine (DOT), GBM Works, IQIP, RWE, Seaway7, Shell, Siemens Gamesa, Sif Group, TNO, TotalEnergies, Delft University of Technology, Van Oord, Vattenfall, CAPE Holland, EDF Renewables, Heerema Engineering Solutions, Heerema Marine Contractors, Ocean Winds, Ørsted. The project is supported with a subsidy by the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy. Source: GROW Offshore Wind
