WORKING AT HEIGHTS - Wind Energy Network

SPONSORS OF TYNE & TEES FEATURESubsea array cable installation beginsThe latest stage in the construction ofGwynt y Môr Offshore Wind Farm, offthe North Wales coast, has gotunderway with the start of inter-arraycable installation.The subsea cables will connect all 160turbines to the two offshore substationsalready installed more than eight miles offNorth Wales in Liverpool Bay. The workis being carried out by UK based ReefSubsea Power & Umbilical Limited usingthe Polar Prince vessel.Reef Subsea PowerThe £40m contract for the company,which has offices in Stockton-On-Teesand Aberdeen, will see Reef SubseaPower & Umbilical assist with engineering,project management, ROV (remotelyoperated vehicle) and survey operationslinked to the subsea installation and burialof all in-field array cables.Electricity generated by the Gwynt y Môrturbines will be carried via the array cablesto the offshore substations and then takenby four subsea export cables to a beachlanding point at Pensarn, near Abergele,North Wales. From there, the energy willbe carried underground via an 11km cableroute to a new substation near St Asaphand fed into the National Grid.Project progressProgress is wellunderway with workson the undergroundcable route andonshore substationalmost complete. Windturbine installation isscheduled to beginfrom the Port of Mostynon the Flintshirecoast in April with firstgeneration expected inthe summer.One of the largest offshore windfarms currently in constructionin EuropeAt 576MW, Gwynt y Môr is one of thelargest offshore wind farms currently inconstruction in Europe. It is a sharedinvestment between partners RWE Innogy,Stadtwerke München GmbH andSiemens(1).Once fully operational, energy generationfrom Gwynt y Môr is expected to beequivalent to the average annual needs ofaround 400,000 homes(2). Gwynt y MôrOffshore Wind Farm Limited has awardedcontracts worth more than £80million tocompanies in Wales.Reef Subseawww.reefsubsea.comRWE npowerRWE npower renewables’ Gwynt y MôrProject Director, Toby Edmonds said:“The start of array cable installation is animportant milestone in the constructionof Gwynt y Môr. 148 kilometres of 33kV cable has been manufactured by theNorwegian company Draka and will beplaced in the seabed to connect eachturbine to the offshore substations.“Half of the wind turbine locations alreadyhave foundations installed and the arraycables will be connected to the transitionpieces before the towers, blades andhubs are placed later this year. Arraycable installation is scheduled to continuethroughout 2013 and into 2014.”Tim Sheehan, Executive Vice PresidentCommercial of Reef Subsea, said: “Weare extremely pleased to be now workingoffshore installing cables on the Gwynty Môr offshore wind farm. It has been avery complex mobilisation phase, whichhas demanded a significant amountof pre-engineering work, major vesselenhancements and delivery of a new cableplough. With the support of a very skilledteam both onshore and offshore, we lookforward to continuing the installation of all161 inter-array cables throughout the restof the year and into 2014.”Click to view more infoRWE npower renewableswww.rwe.com(1) Gwynt y Môr represents a totalinvestment of more than EUR2 billion,shared between RWE npower renewables’parent company RWE Innogy(60%);Stadtwerke München GmbH, Munich’smunicipal utilities company (30%); andSiemens(10%).(2) Energy predicted to be generated bythe proposal is derived using wind speedsmonitored46www.windenergynetwork.co.uk