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wiredInUSA - October 2013
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ABB has entered a joint industry program
with Norwegian oil and gas company,
Statoil. The program will develop solutions
for transmission, distribution and power
conversion systems designed to power
and control subsea pumps and gas
compressors at depths of 3,000m and over
vast distances.
The five-year program is pivotal to the
development of technologies required
to power and control large-scale subsea
pumping and gas-compression projects
planned for the Norwegian continental
shelf, the Gulf of Mexico and other places
around the world.
The program is expected to provide
solutions for the transmission of electrical
power up to 100MW over distances up
to 600km and to depths of up to 3,000m.
This is important for the development of
remote oil and gas fields located far from
other infrastructure. This subsea electric
power distribution technology enables
several electric loads, such as pumps and
compressors, to be supplied through a
single power cable reducing investment
costs significantly. The new technology, for
example, could make savings of over $500
million, if eight loads are linked through
a single cable over a distance of 200km
from other infrastructure.
ABB and Statoil to work
together
Van Oord has ordered a new cable-laying
vessel, to be built at Damen Shipyards’
wharf in Romania. The new ship will be
ready at the end of 2014.
The ship is intended for the installation of
electricity cables for offshore wind farms.
Van Oord is making preparations for the
Gemini wind park project, planned for a
site 60km north of Schiermonnikoog, one of
the Dutch Wadden islands.
The investment is for a multi-purpose vessel
with a dead weight of 8,500 tonnes, a
length of 120m, a beam of 28m and a
DP-2 (dynamic positioning) system. It will
have a cable carousel with a capacity
of over 5,000 tonnes and an offshore
crane that will enable it to lay heavy and
long export cables. It will have on-board
accommodation for 90 people.
The new cable-laying vessel forms part of
the Van Oord strategy to offer a complete
package for the construction of offshore
wind parks as an EPC contractor.
New vessel
for Van Oord