wiredInUSA January 2020

A floating solar first

Umbilical contract

Image: Vattenfall

Image: oneSubSea

OneSubsea ® has ordered two 120km power umbilicals from Nexans, destined for a subsea multiphase compression system. The system will help extend the production life of Norway’s second-largest gas field, the Ormen Lange, that currently supplies 20 percent of the UK’s gas needs. Located in the Norwegian Sea, the Ormen Lange gas field produces about 70 million cubic meters of gas a day that is piped to the onshore Nyhamna processing plant. It is then purified and transported to the UK through a 1,200km pipeline. The OneSubsea multiphase compression system is a new technology developed to boost gas pressure. Nexans’ power umbilicals will integrate all the 52kV electrical power, hydraulic and fiber optic elements required to power and control two compressor stations, also under construction. The Ormen Lange umbilicals will be designed and manufactured by Nexans’ Halden facility, with delivery and installation scheduled for 2023.

The first floating solar farm to be developed by Vattenfall will be built in the Netherlands. With a completed capacity of 1.2MW, construction was scheduled to begin in late December 2019. The Netherlands is short of building space for solar farms so floating solar farms, using the ponds and pools that form as the result of sand and gravel extraction, could help bring sustainable generation in line with the demand for power. An additional benefit is that the water naturally cools the panels, increasing their efficiency compared to land-based solar panels. At the site in Gendringen, where Netterden, Vattenfalls partner in the project, has been extracting sand and gravel for 25 years, an electric pump powers the associated sorting and processing equipment. The pump consumes around 2,500,000kW hours per year. The extraction activities have created a pond, on which the island for the solar panels will be built. The solar island is expected to be operational by May 2020 and will meet half of the site’s power demand.

wiredInUSA January 2020

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