Jee Analyses Offshore Wind Subsea Cables at Centrica’s Site

Jee Ltd has completed a Centrica Renewable Energy Ltd contract, which saw the subsea engineering and training firm successfully perform a subsea power cable analysis that will potentially reduce future operation and maintenance costs on an offshore wind project.

Centrica Renewable Energy commissioned Jee to identify scenarios that could lead to premature failure of the subsea power cables on the Lynn and Inner Dowsing offshore wind project given different environmental conditions and amounts of seabed scour around the base of the wind turbine foundations.

Gary Howland, Business Development Manager at Jee Ltd said: “Successful completion of this challenging renewables contract is testament to the bespoke services offered by the team at Jee.”

Using OrcaFlex software, a powerful analysis tool for subsea risers, pipelines, umbilicals and cables, Jee modelled the cables to assess loads and movements that could potentially cause premature failure.

The Jee team then provided critical information about which cable scenarios are at risk of failure. Centrica will use this information to decide if any cables are required to be made safe with remedial works, therefore mitigating the risk of a future failure and avoiding the costs associated with loss of energy production and cable replacement.

Mr Howland continued: “Delivering the potential for extensive time and cost-savings underpins our dedication to projects such as this, proving our reputation as an expert in this field.       

 “We understand the importance of reducing the lifetime costs and LCE (levelised cost of energy) of offshore wind farms to make them more competitive with other forms of energy generation.”

Jee performed similar assessments on other operational wind farms such as Barrow and Robin Rigg. On these projects, the scope went one step further with ‘real time’ monitoring of cable movements to validate and calibrate the engineering models.

Recently, Jee also provided Technip Offshore Wind Ltd with valuable information about the safest and most efficient way to install the cables on the Gunfleet Sands 3, Borkum West and Westermost Rough  projects, thereby minimising installation costs and reducing the risk of cable damage during offshore operations.

“Through smart upfront engineering and integrity management of the subsea assets, as demonstrated on this and a number of others projects, Jee has proved that we successfully contribute to the renewables sector,” Mr Howland concluded.

The Lynn and Inner Dowsing project is two adjacent wind farms built 5km off the Lincolnshire coast, east of Skegness. Together, they have an installed capacity of 194MW, enough power to meet the annual demand of more than 130,000 homes.

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Press release; Image: Jee