Global Offshore to install cables for Scottish floater

The contract was awarded by Spanish developer and construction company Grupo Cobra.

Utilising the specialist cable installation vessel Normand Clipper, the latest addition to the company’s fleet, Global Offshore will install an export cable and five inter array cables at the site. Together they comprise 30.3 km of cables.

The project will commence in March with boulder clearance and route preparation work utilising a pre-lay plough suited to the varying seabed conditions expected in and around the windfarm.

Installation work will include using a dynamic riser to allow for movement of the platform, using an engineering solution the company said is ‘unique’ to the emerging floating wind market.

Following cable installation, remedial burial will be completed on parts of the route by a jet trencher to ensure the long-term safety of the cable.

Global Offshore managing director Mike Daniel said, “We are taking our extensive experience in installing dynamic umbilicals and flexibles in the offshore oil and gas industry and applying it to cable installation in the floating wind sector.”

Global Offshore recently chartered Normand Clipper to support cable laying operations in the renewable energy and oil and gas sectors.

The dynamic positioning class 2 vessel has been fitted with a 4,00-tonne cable carousel, two 15-tonne cable tensioners, a 25-tonne quadrant deployment frame and a fully integrated control system. The vessel, which will also be capable of repair and replacement, will be capable of operating in a significant wave height of up to 3.0 m.

The highly flexible ship will also be capable of working as a dedicated trenching vessel and undertaking inspection, maintenance and repair work. In this mode it will have a Q1400 trencher capable of jetting and cutting and a launch and retrieval system, an 800-m³ clear deck and shipside access, plus two work-class ROVs and an inspection-class ROV.