Deepocean awarded cable installation contract for Dong Energy’s Walney Extension wind farm in the Irish Sea
DeepOcean has been awarded a contract by DONG Energy for the provision of installation and trenching works for the Walney Extension offshore wind project in The Irish Sea. Offshore work will be performed from DeepOcean’s new cable installation vessel Maersk Connector in 2017, the company said in its press release.
DeepOcean has a long track record of subsea power cable installation on critical infrastructure projects. This is the second recent award for DeepOcean’s new cable lay vessel Maersk Connector, which joins the fleet in the first quarter 2016. DeepOcean’s scope includes route engineering as well as the installation and trenching of a total of 136 km offshore export cables and a 23 km interlink cable. The cables will be pulled ashore near Heysham and will link the two offshore sub station platforms at the windfarm. Offshore work is expected to commence first quarter 2017, subject to DONG Energy taking a final investment decision to proceed with the project.
The Walney Extension Project, WOW03 (west) and WOW04 (east), is anticipated to have a total capacity of 660MW. With up to 90 turbines each with a 7MW or 8MW output and 2 offshore substations and is to be constructed by DONG Energy AS, as the sole owner of the Project. WOW03 and WOW04 will consist of 2 x 220kV independent electrical systems each with their own offshore sub stations. The project is situated in the Irish Sea west-south-west of the Isle of Walney coast in Cumbria.
