Neart na Gaoithe offshore wind farm : Deme Offshore wins cable contract

Deme Offshore has been awarded an engineering, procurement, construction and installation (EPCI) contract for the inter-array and interconnector cables at the 450MW Neart na Gaoithe offshore wind farm in Scotland from EDF Renewables UK.

The DEME Group subsidiary plans to execute the EPCI of the subsea cables in 2021.

The Neart na Gaoithe offshore wind farm, which is owned by EDF Renewable UK, is being built 15.5km off the east coast of Fife. The offshore wind project in Scotland will cover an area of about 105 sqkm and will be contained in water depths in the range of 45-55m.

A total of 54 8MW offshore wind turbines from Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy will power the Neart na Gaoithe project. The wind turbine generators will be distributed across 12 array strings, with each of them connected through dedicated 66kV inter-array cables.

According to Deme Offshore, the six array loops will be connected to two offshore substations with three of them to each of the substations and an interconnector between them.

The company said that engineering works have begun to meet the required milestones of the Scottish offshore wind project.

Deme Offshore will use the Living Stone cable lay vessel for the Neart na Gaoithe offshore wind farm. Photo courtesy of DEME.

The Neart na Gaoithe offshore wind farm can power nearly 375,000 Scottish homes while offsetting more than 400,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions annually.

Commenting on the Neart na Gaoithe offshore wind farm contract, Bart De Poorter – General Manager DEME Offshore, said: “This project further allows DEME Offshore to demonstrate our willingness and capability to assist our clients in achieving innovative solutions, with quick turnaround – something which was of the utmost importance throughout the initial concept and design stages through to final contract signing.

“The capabilities and capacity of our innovative cable lay vessel ‘Living Stone’ has been specially designed to adapt to the requirements of any offshore cable project, ensure flexibility within the field and a guarantee to the meeting of specific project milestones, which has been key to EDF Renewables UK.”