Sif Produces First Monopile at Expanded Maasvlakte II Plant

By Simon West

Offshore foundation maker Sif Group has successfully manufactured the first monopile at its expanded production facilities at Maasvlakte II in Rotterdam.

The foundation piece is the first of 54 that are being made for Equinor’s Empire Wind I project off the U.S. East Coast. Production of the remaining monopiles is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2025. Sif is also manufacturing transition pieces for the 810-megawatt (MW) offshore New York project at its other Dutch facility at Roermond.

Sif reached FID on the new US$328 million facility at Maasvlakte II – the world’s largest monopile production plant – in February 2023. Empire Offshore Wind contributed 50 million euros in advance factory payments, becoming the project’s first client.

A spokesperson told Breakbulk that Sif had additional orders lined up for the Baltyk II and III offshore wind projects in Poland, the East Anglia TWO wind farm off the UK’s east coast and the Ecowende and Oranjewind projects, both offshore Netherlands.

The Maasvlakte II plant is expected to be running at full capacity from 2026, the spokesperson said.

“We will now focus on getting the facilities up-to-speed to manufacture approximately 200 monopiles per year,” said Fred van Beers, CEO of Sif Holding, in a separate statement.

“It makes me proud to see that the quality of the first product is very good, and that measurement is widely within tolerances. The new facilities enhance Sif’s position as market leader in offshore wind energy foundations and will contribute largely to the energy transition from fossil to clean energies.”

According to Sif, the size of monopiles has increased “drastically” in recent years. A “reference” foundation measures 120 meters in length and 11 meters in diameter and weighs about 2,500 tons.

“From a market study, we learned that 80% of future monopiles will be in the 9-to-11-meter diameter range. This mainly relates to monopiles for Europe (in the North Sea and Baltic Sea) and on the U.S. East Coast,” the spokesperson said.


MAIN PHOTO: Sif’s Maasvlakte II monopile plant. CREDIT: Sif Group