UK: DeepOcean awarded array cable installation contract for DONG Energy's Race Bank Wind Farm in the North Sea

Offshore work will be undertaken in 2016/2017 with DeepOcean’s in-house fleet of dedicated cable installation and trenching vessels.

David Summers, DONG Energy’s Race Bank Engineering, Procurement and Construction Director said: “With the wind farm now into its construction phase, we are pleased to be able to call on experienced suppliers like DeepOcean for this important cable installation and trenching work.”

DeepOcean’s Ottar Maeland, EVP Greater North Sea said, “This is the second recent award from DONG Energy in the renewables sector, demonstrating DeepOcean’s installation expertise across both export and inter-array cable sectors. This award validates DeepOcean’s strategy to offer customers in the offshore renewables sector the benefits of our deep experience and skills developed in the international subsea market.”

When operational, Race Bank will have a capacity of up to 580 megawatts (MW), providing enough green energy to power over 400,000 UK homes. The wind farm will consist of 91 wind turbines each with a 6 MW capacity and will be built almost 17 miles off Blakeney Point on the North Norfolk coast, and a similar distance from the Lincolnshire coast at Chapel St. Leonards.

DeepOcean has a long track record of subsea power cable installation on critical infrastructure projects. In addition to the installation and trenching of a total of 91 inter-array cables, with a combined length of 106 km, the Race Bank contract scope includes the associated route engineering, pre-lay grapnel run operations, installation of cable protection system and messenger wires. The cables will be post-lay trenched by one of DeepOcean’s in-house trenching assets. Offshore work will be undertaken in two campaigns, commencing in Q3 2016 and Q1 2017 respectively.