Boost for European offshore wind industry as Iberdrola unit picks Sif and Smulders to supply East Anglia Two foundations
East Anglia Two offshore wind farm was a winner in the UK government’s AR6 allocation round, held in September.
ScottishPower Renewables has awarded Sif Netherlands a contract to supply 64 monopiles for East Anglia Two, an offshore wind project big enough to power a million homes in the UK.
A joint venture between Sif and Smulders was also picked to supply 64 transition pieces for the same project.
In a boost for the European offshore fabrication industry, monopiles will be manufactured in Sif’s newly expanded production Maasvlakte 2 facilities in Rotterdam.
The transition pieces will be fabricated in Sif’s production facilities in Roermond, also in the Netherlands, with outfitting at Smulders’ production facilities in Hoboken, Belgium.
The monopiles and transition pieces will be loaded out to the foundation installation or transport vessels from Sif’s Maasvlakte 2 deepsea quay, according to a statement by the Dutch company.
Iberdrola-owned ScottishPower Renewables was successful in bidding the £4bn ($5.2bn) East Anglia Two offshore wind farm in the UK government’s Contracts for Difference Allocation Round 6 (AR6), held in September.
East Anglia Two will be located almost 33 kilometres off the Suffolk coast and is expected to supply up to 960MW of offshore wind energy.
Production of the monopiles and transition pieces will start in the second half of 2026, Sif said.
“It’s great to confirm this important contract with Sif and Smulders so soon after East Anglia Two’s Contracts for Difference success," said Charlie Jordan, CEO of ScottishPower Renewables.
Fred van Beers, CEO of Sif Holding added: “With our state of the art monopile production facilities, our strategic position in Rotterdam and our deep-sea quays with 24/7 access for the most modern installation vessels, we offer ScottishPower Renewables excellent conditions for a safe and efficient installation campaign.
"We thank ScottishPower Renewables for the trust and the open exchange of ideas in the preliminary phase. This contributed highly to the speed in which the capacity reservation agreement for this project... could be converted into a final contract."
Sif and Smulders have a long-standing partnership for the supply of offshore wind foundations. Sif provides the primary steel for monopiles and transition pieces, while Smulders handles secondary steel and outfitting of the transition pieces and monopiles that do not use transition pieces.
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