Inter-Array Cable Installation Resuming Soon at Moray East OWF

The second inter-array cable installation campaign will begin this month at the Moray East offshore wind farm, where the seventh wind turbine was installed on 10 February and the decommissioning of the met mast is currently underway.

The first inter-array cable installation campaign, which started on 11 November 2020, was completed on 23 January of this year with testing and termination works still ongoing. The cable laying and burial within the second campaign is scheduled to commence on 24 February, weather permitting, according to the project’s Notice to Mariners. The inter-array cable work is expected to be completed by mid-June.

The cable pull-ins and free lay of inter array-cable between wind turbines (wind turbine foundations) will be carried out by CLV Living Stone, followed by WROV surveys on installed cable. Living Stone will be supported by Grand Canyon, which will provide a walk-to-work system for personnel access to the wind turbine locations and for transferring equipment to assist the cable pull-ins. The CTV MHO Gurli will assist in personnel transfers to wind turbines (foundations) and will be carrying out crew changes for both vessels.

For the testing and termination works from the wind farm’s offshore transformer modules (OTMs) and wind turbines, personnel and equipment will be based on OSV Deep Cygnus, which will also transfer personnel and equipment between OTMs and turbines.

Currently, work on decommissioning the met mast at Moray East are under way. Since the start on 23 November, the tower structure and transition piece have been demobilised, and the monopile will be removed by the end of February. The task will be carried out by Olympic Zeus, assisted by Olympic Taurus.

The wind turbine installation is also underway, with the jack-up vessel Bold Tern having installed seven of the total 100 MHI Vestas 9.5 MW wind turbines at the project site so far, after erecting the first unit in mid-January.

The final foundation was installed in December 2020 and all the Moray East OTMs have been in place since September 2020. All three export cables were laid and pulled in by mid-October 2020 by the cable laying vessel NKT Victoria.

The 950 MW offshore wind farm, scheduled for commissioning in 2022, is being developed by Moray Offshore Windfarm East Ltd (MOWEL), a joint venture company owned by Ocean Winds (56.6%) Diamond Green Limited (33.4%), and CTG (10%).