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www.read-eurowire.comNews
Corporate
VSMC has completed the
shallow water-trenching
programme
for
the
London Array wind farm
project, having started
work at the site in 2009.
For VSMC, the London
Array project consisted
of
the
installation
and
burial
of
four
export cables and the
installation, burial and
termination
of
178
infield cables. VSMC set a
record by completing the
installation and burial of
216km of export cables
in 12 months and the
installation and testing of 202km of infield cables in just nine months.
VSMC was also contracted to trench 177km of infield cables on a challenging work
site with strong currents and areas that fall dry, requiring unconventional methods of
trenching.
CEO Arno van Poppel said: “The success of this project was down to the dedication and
commitment of the project team members, all of whom worked hard to ensure that the
project was completed safely and to a very high standard.”
VSMC – Netherlands
Website
:
www.vsmc.nlCommission completed at Thornton Bank
The subsea transmission
link
connecting
one
of the largest offshore
wind farms in Europe
to the Belgian grid, the
Thornton Bank project,
has been successfully
commissioned by ABB.
The work, executed for
the
Belgian
company
C-Power
NV,
was
completed on schedule.
The transmission link is
part of an expansion of
the Thornton Bank wind
farm. In the first phase
of its development, six
wind turbines with a total capacity of 30MW were built and temporarily connected
to the mainland by ABB. The second and third phases of the project involved adding
48 wind turbines to the wind farm and connecting the complete wind farm, taking its
overall capacity to 325MW. The transformer station platform is 30km offshore in the
North Sea.
ABB was responsible for the system engineering, design, supply and commissioning
of the alternating current subsea cables, the land-based cable systems, the offshore
substation and the platform that houses it. The wind turbines are connected via
underwater medium-voltage cables to the offshore transformer station where the
voltage is boosted to 150kV and connected to the mainland grid.
The wind farm has a generating capacity of over 1,000 gigawatt-hours of electricity per
year, and by 2020 will contribute approximately seven per cent of Belgium’s targeted
renewable energy commitment.
ABB – Switzerland
Website
:
www.abb.comEnd of Array work for VSMC
▲
▲
Cable laying for London Array site. Photograph courtesy of VSMC website
▲
▲
The subsea transmission link. Photograph courtesy and ©C-Power NV, T
D’Haenens