Boskalis Installs First Moray West Offshore Substation Platform

December 19, 2023, by Adnan Memija

Boskalis’ DP installation vessel Bokalift 1 has installed the first offshore substation platform (OSP) at the Moray West offshore wind farm site in Scotland.

Source: OW Ocean Winds UK/LinkedIn

The heavy lift operations in the Port of Nigg and on-site were completed safely and successfully, according to the developer Ocean Winds.

As offshore commissioning starts, the previously laid export cable will now be pulled into the OSP.

This is the first of two OSPs the Moray West offshore wind farm will feature. The substations are Siemens Energy’s offshore transformer modules (OTMs), delivered under a contract secured by the consortium of Siemens Energy and Iemants, a subsidiary of Smulders.

Both OTMs were fabricated at Smulders yard with Siemens Energy managing the fit-out of their equipment onto the OTMs from their Manchester base.

The consortium partners loaded out and dispatched the topsides at the beginning of last month, with the OTMs arriving in Scotland by mid-November.

At the end of November, the first batch of transition pieces (TPs), including the two for the offshore substations, arrived at the Port of Nigg in the Cromarty Firth.

Bokalift 1‘s scope of work involves the installation of the J-Tube cages, transition pieces (TP), and topsides for both Moray West offshore substations.

As Bokalift 1 moves to install the second OSP, Bokalift 2 continues to install monopiles on site, as the winter weather windows allow, said Ocean Winds.

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Located off the east coast of Scotland in the Moray Firth, the 882 MW Moray West offshore wind farm is developed and majority-owned by Ocean Winds, with Lithuania’s Ignitis Group holding a minority share.

The project will comprise 60 Siemens Gamesa 14.7 MW wind turbines and is scheduled to be fully operational in 2025. Once fully commissioned, Moray West is expected to meet the electricity requirements of about 650,000 households in Scotland for 25 years.