Righini delivers remote installation tools as Baltica 2 shifts to secondary steel campaign

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Italian engineering company F.lli Righini S.p.A. has delivered remotely operated secondary structure installation tools to Van Oord for the 1.5 GW Baltica 2 offshore wind farm in Poland, as construction moves from monopile installation into the next phase of offshore works.

The equipment will support installation of boat landings and internal and external platforms on Baltica 2’s monopile foundations. The systems include offshore seafastening structures and are designed to allow unmanned, remotely operated installation, reducing the need for personnel close to suspended structures during offshore lifting operations.

The delivery comes as Baltica 2 developers PGE Polska Grupa Energetyczna and Ørsted accelerate secondary steel work after completing installation of all 111 monopile foundations earlier this month. More than 400 secondary structures are due to be installed on the foundations by the end of 2026.

Van Oord completed the monopile campaign on schedule in August using its specialist vessels Svanen and Aeolus. The scope covered 107 turbine foundations and four foundations for offshore substations.

The monopiles are up to about 100 metres long, with diameters reaching approximately 10.5 metres and individual weights of around 1,900 tonnes. Their completion has cleared the way for installation of the smaller but operationally critical structures needed for access, corrosion protection and maintenance.

Secondary steel includes boat landings used by service vessels, internal and external platforms and anode cages that protect foundations against corrosion. The developers said about 75% of the more than 400 secondary structures required for Baltica 2 are being manufactured in Poland.

Righini’s equipment is intended to handle different components while meeting tight positioning tolerances offshore. According to the company, mechanical systems were developed specifically for the project to maintain stability and positioning accuracy while allowing installation operations to be controlled remotely.

For contractors, remotely operated tooling can reduce personnel exposure during lifting and positioning while helping installation vessels maintain a repeatable work sequence across large numbers of foundations.

Baltica 2 is being developed around 40 kilometres off Poland’s Baltic coast near Ustka and will comprise 107 Siemens Gamesa 14 MW turbines. The project is owned equally by PGE and Ørsted and is expected to supply electricity equivalent to the consumption of about 2.5 million Polish households.

The secondary structure campaign is scheduled to continue through the end of 2026. Offshore substations and export cables are also due to be installed this year, followed by inter array cables and wind turbines in 2027.

Van Oord is responsible for the transport and installation of the foundations and associated scour protection. The wider construction programme involves multiple specialist vessel contractors and ports, making sequencing between foundations, secondary steel, cables and turbine installation a key logistics consideration.

Righini said the installation tools were engineered, manufactured, assembled and tested in house, with selected production activities supported by local suppliers. The company previously supplied two secondary steel installation tools in 2023 for German offshore wind projects involving monopiles with diameters of 7 and 7.5 metres.

First power from Baltica 2 is scheduled for the first half of 2027, with full commercial operation targeted by the end of that year.