The Solitaire is currently making its way to Russian waters, where it will begin constructing a section of the pipeline, which runs from kilometre point (KP) 7.5 to KP 350 in the Finnish Exclusive Economic Zone. This part of the Baltic Sea presents particular environmental challenges due to its congestion and other aspects.

The Solitaire is equipped with ten thrusters with an integrated propulsion power of 50,000 kW for precise manoeuvring and to maintain the vessel’s position. The thrusters keep the pipelay vessel in place and are steered by a computer system that constantly monitors the actual position of the vessel in comparison to its target position. If any deviation occurs, the thrusters will rapidly propel it back into the target position, so that the vessel is always operating along the agreed pipeline route.

The Solitaire is 300 m long and 40.6 m wide. It has a 22,000 t pipe-carrying capacity and work stations on several levels to enable it to receive and store the 12 m long 23 t pipes, weld them together, test the welds, join the pipes to the pipeline that has already been laid, and lower it to the seabed at a rate of about 2.5 km a day. The vessel accommodates 420 people and is equipped to lay pipe 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Denmark’s Storebælt Bridge, the ‘Great Belt’ bridge, is the gateway to the Baltic Sea and is almost 7 km long.

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The sections in Russian and Finnish waters adjoining the 342.5 km of pipeline to be laid by Solitaire are being constructed by Saipem’s Castoro Sei pipelay vessel, including the section at the Russian landfall in Portovaya Bay, Vyborg. Saipem’s flat-bottomed Castoro Dieci is responsible for constructing the pipeline in the shallow waters at and near the German landfall at Lubmin, near Greifswald.

The two 1,224 km long Nord Stream gas pipelines will transport 55 Bcm/a of gas from Russia to Germany, where it will join the European energy grid. The first line will start transporting gas in 2011, while the second will come on-stream in 2012.