Cable Installation Completed at UK's Sofia Offshore Wind Farm by Van Oord, According to Our Site's Report
The 1.4 GW Sofia Offshore Wind Farm, located approximately 195 kilometres off the northeast coast of England, has reached a significant milestone in its construction. This milestone was marked by the completion of cable installation works, a crucial step towards the wind farm's eventual operation.
Much of the array cable installation work was carried out by Van Oord's cable-laying vessel, the Calypso. The Calypso was instrumental in the initial cable laying at the wind farm. After the Calypso completed its work, the burial of the remaining cables was carried out by the trencher Dig-It, deployed from the offshore support vessel Subsea Viking.
The project is being fitted with the Siemens Gamesa SG 14-222 turbines, each boasting a 108-metre-long blade and a 222-metre rotor diameter. The power generated by these turbines travels along two export cables, which run about 220 kilometres along the seabed, connecting the wind farm's 100 14 MW turbines to the project's offshore converter platform.
In total, Van Oord has completed the installation of 109 inter-array cables on the wind farm, with approximately 360 kilometres of these cables having been installed and tested. These cables connect the wind turbines to the converter platform, a crucial step in the transmission of the wind farm's renewable energy to the national grid.
Matthew Swanwick, project director at RWE, expressed his satisfaction with the progress of the project, stating that the completion of these works is a significant milestone for the project. Van Oord was also responsible for installing the wind farm's 100 monopile foundations, a task they completed in July of this year.
Once fully operational, Sofia is expected to generate enough electricity to power approximately 1.2 million typical UK households. The use of recyclable blades for half of the wind turbines further underscores the project's commitment to sustainability.
The remaining cable installation was handled by the Boka Ocean cable-lay vessel. With these cable installation works now complete, the focus shifts to the final stages of the project, including the commissioning and connection to the national grid, bringing the UK one step closer to its renewable energy goals.
