After many months of manufacturing and preparation, it is now time for the array cable installation to commence on the Anholt project.
Over the past year, Nexans Deutschland has been manufacturing array cables for the Anholt Offshore Wind Farm in three different cross sections with a total length of approximately 150 kilometres. It is a logistical challenge to transport such a large quantity of cables from Nexans’ factory in Hannover, and a combination of road and rail transport and direct loading to installation vessels both in Germany and Denmark are used to transport the cables to the project.
Visser & Smit Marine Contracting (VSMC) has been contracted to perform the array cable installation on the Anholt project and will commence the installation on 1 June. The Stemat 82 cable installation vessel is the first vessel which VSMC will use on the Anholt project.
The vessel has joined the project directly from the London Array project in the United Kingdom. Through great cooperation between Nexans, DONG Energy and VSMC, Stemat 82 left the London Array project on 16 May, was prepared and inspected in Rotterdam Netherlands, loaded with 29 kilometres of array cables in Nordenham Germany and arrived at the project site in Grenaa on 27 May on time and ready to work.
The Stemat 82 will be joined on site in the coming weeks by the Toisa Wave DP2 installation vessel, which will be focussed towards the installation of shorter lengths of cables within the wind farm.
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Offshore WIND staff, June 07, 2012; Image: dongenergy