INTELLIGENT BRANDS // Green Technology
Final section of Nexans Power
export cable sails to Scotland
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the delivery of a total of 265 km of cables,
including 145 km of 220 kV offshore cables,
115 km of 220 kV and 5 km of 400 kV
onshore cables and the associated high
voltage accessories.
Nexans completed the laying and burial
of the first offshore cable route in 2017
and connected it to the offshore platform
in February 2018. In March 2018, Nexans
installed the 400 kV onshore circuits
and their outdoor sealing ends using its
expertise of carrying out the termination
works horizontally prior to connecting them
vertically at Blackhillock substation.
N
exans has reached two key
milestones in its major contract to
create the high voltage power export
connection for Scotland’s Beatrice 588 MW
offshore windfarm. The first of the two 400
kV onshore cable links and the high voltage
accessories have been installed successfully
and tested on site. At the same time, the
Nexans factory in Norway has completed
the manufacturing of the 220 kV offshore
cable and loaded the final section onto the
Group’s Skagerrak cable laying vessel for the
journey across the North Sea to the Moray
Firth, where it will be installed and later
trenched into the seabed by Nexans’ unique
Capjet system.
Offshore and onshore cables:
connecting Beatrice Offshore
Windfarm to the Scottish grid
The Beatrice Offshore Windfarm project,
scheduled to be fully operational by 2019,
www.intelligentcio.com
is a joint venture between SSE, Copenhagen
Infrastructure Partners and Red Rock Power
Limited, the UK subsidiary of China’s SDIC
Power Holding Co. Located in the Moray
Firth, it will be Scotland’s largest windfarm,
with the combined output of 84 turbines
capable of generating enough electricity to
power approximately 450,000 homes.
To export the energy from the windfarm
to the grid, the two offshore cables take
a route of 70 km along the seabed to a
landfall point to the west of Portgordon on
the Moray coast. A transition joint bay then
connects them to the onshore cable system,
which takes a 20 km route to Blackhillock
substation. From there, the 400 kV onshore
cables will transmit the electricity to the grid.
Nexans was awarded the turnkey contract
to design, manufacture, test, deliver and
install both circuits of the complete power
transmission cable system. This included
“The Beatrice project perfectly illustrates our
capacity to deliver turnkey grid connection
solutions for offshore windfarms,” said
Vincent Dessale, Senior Executive Vice
President for the Subsea and Land Systems
business group at Nexans. “For many years,
Nexans has been committed to facilitating
the energy transition in Europe and
worldwide, and we are proud to contribute to
building Scotland’s largest windfarm.”
The offshore cables for the Beatrice Offshore
Windfarm were produced in Halden,
Norway and installed by Nexans Norway.
The onshore cables were manufactured
at Nexans Benelux facility in Charleroi,
Belgium and installed by Nexans France. The
associated high voltage accessories were
delivered by Nexans Switzerland.
For over 15 years, Nexans has been a key
driver in the development of windfarm
technology. It was the first company to
manufacture three-core 245 kV submarine
cables as well as the first to manufacture 420
kV submarine cables. To date, Nexans cables
have enabled in excess of 3,500 MW of
offshore windfarm energy to be integrated
into power grids across the world. n
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