Cable-lay vessel Nexans Aurora delivered

In addition to power cables for export lines for offshore wind and deepwater interconnector projects, it will be capable of carrying and deploying fibre optic cables, repairing and jointing cables and will operate a seabed trenching machine.

Much of the cable-laying equipment for the vessel was designed by MAATS Tech in the UK, including the vessel’s carousel, which will carry cable in an innovative ‘carousel-in-a-carousel’ arrangement that will allow it to carry more cable without significantly increasing the vessel’s size or cost.

The concentric carousel-in-a-carousel concept on Nexans Aurora can process two cables simultaneously, or store a single length weighing 10,000 tonnes. The vessel will have two firing lines.

Nexans Aurora will be formally named in a ceremony in Ulsteinvik, Norway on 8 June 2021, before departing for its home port of Halden and Nexans’ subsea high-voltage cables competence centre.

Nexans recently signed a preferred supplier agreement with Empire Offshore Wind to connect the company’s offshore wind projects to the grid using Nexans Aurora. The company’s chief executive Christopher Guérin said the deal “demonstrates the value of our end-to-end model and supports our investment in US offshore wind and our new cable-laying vessel.”

Riviera Maritime Media’s Offshore Energy Webinar Week is being held 14 June 2021 – use this link for more details and to register