Triton Knoll and J Murphy & Sons Sign GBP 100 Million Deal

Triton Knoll Offshore Wind Farm Ltd. has officially signed a GBP 100 million contract with J Murphy & Sons for onshore work at innogy’s 860MW offshore wind project in the UK.

The contract comes as the initial onshore works are set to begin, while the main construction of the substation and cable route are expected to commence later this summer.

Initial works include the construction of a temporary office and several temporary construction compounds, the preparation of various access roads along the route, the establishment of speed restrictions on several major roads, as well as topsoil stripping along parts of the onshore cable route.

Murphy has already begun working on the design and is preparing to install the onshore cable circuits, part of the project’s electrical system. The company said it will shortly begin setting up new project offices on the cable route, which will eventually accommodate more than 100 UK staff.

The civil engineering, specialist excavation teams and HDD work required to deliver the major works are expected to attract a large workforce during the installation, thus, Murphy has already started bringing local companies to the project with the recent appointment of three Lincolnshire-based contractors.

“We are delighted to award this contract to our supply chain partners Murphy. This contract secures significant investment into the UK supply chain, which will open up additional opportunities for more local firms to support innogy’s flagship offshore wind farm, Triton Knoll,” Project Director, Julian Garnsey, said.

“Murphy has already engaged local firms during preliminary works for Triton Knoll, and has demonstrated their willingness to continue working with us to ensure we can maximize opportunities from our investments for local and UK businesses, throughout the project lifecycle.”

According to Murphy, the installation of the electrical system will present one of the biggest engineering challenges of its kind, with almost 60km of onshore underground cable to install and over 300 obstacles to be crossed by individual horizontal direction drills (HDD), which is three times more than what’s believed to be the previous UK record for an infrastructure project.

Located 32km off Lincolnshire, the Triton Knoll wind farm will comprise 90 MHI Vestas V164-9.5MW turbines. Offshore works are scheduled to begin late next year, with commissioning expected in 2021.