VBMS to install cables for Rampion Offshore Wind Farm in UK

E.ON has awarded a contract to Subsea power cable installation company VBMS to install two 16 km-long export cables for the Rampion Offshore Wind Farm in the UK.

VBMS will install two 150kV HVAC cables that will transport 400 MW power from the wind farm to the onshore cable in Brooklands Pleasure Park in Worthing, South East England.

The company will be using DP2 cable-laying vessel Stemat Spirit to lay the two cables for the project. Stemat Spirit was previously used by the company in 2013 for Humber Gateway OWF export cable installation for E.ON.

Rampion Offshore Wind Farm is being developed by E.ON and the UK Green Investment Bank plc (GIB), 13km off the Sussex coast.

The 400MW project will consist of 116 units of MHI Vestas V112-3.45MW turbines with generating capacity of 3.45 MW each.

Upon completion the project will be capable of powering 300,000 homes and will be capable of reducing CO2 emissions by up to 600,000 tonnes a year.

As per the contract, VBMS will lay the cables in Q3 2016.

The company highlighted that it recently added a new plough to the spread, which provides a high-performance trenching solution for large diameter cables.