The construction of the £1.5bn Galloper offshore wind farm has moved into the next phase after the installation of turbine foundations was completed two months ahead of schedule.
The first of the 1,200-tonne foundations - made up of a steel monopile and a transition piece - was installed 30km off the Suffolk coast in late December, and the last of the 56 was fitted on Tuesday.
The work was carried out by GeoSea using its Innovation jack-up vessel, which was upgraded to improve installation times, and had been slated to be completed by May.
Galloper project director Toby Edmonds said: 'GeoSea have set records with their barn-storming performance on Galloper. To achieve a cycle-time of within a week to collect and install four complete foundations in remarkable and certainly the fastest we've seen so far at innogy.
'To do this in winter makes it all the more impressive. The teams from Galloper and GeoSea have combined brilliantly to reach this major milestone completing the foundation installation stage efficiently and safely in such good time.'
The foundations each weigh about 1,200 tonnes and measure 85m long and 7.5m in diameter.
Installation of the 6MW turbines will now begin, with the wind farm expected to be fully operational by spring 2018.
The Siemens turbines are being pre-assembled at the purpose-built assembly base at Peel Ports, Great Yarmouth, where a 120m crane will lift the turbines on to vessels to sail them to the site.
Construction of Galloper is being led on behalf of the project partners by Innogy SE.
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