VSMC competes inter-array cabling for Nordsee Ost offshore wind farm

Dutch firm Visser & Smit Marine Contracting (VSMC) has completed inter-array cabling at RWE Innogy’s 295MW Nordsee Ost offshore wind farm in the German North Sea.

RWE Innogy Nordsee Ost project director Marcel Sunier said the RWE Innogy divided cable installation into two campaigns.

"The first 30 kilometres of cable or so were already installed and buried in the seabed last year. This took off some of the time pressure from the most intricate process. The remaining cables were laid over the last few weeks"

Two special installation vessels, the Normand Flower and the Stemat Spirit have been in operation at the wind farm.

All 48 foundations for the wind turbines as well as the foundation of the substation were connected with each other by inter-array cables.
The inter-array cables are scheduled to be connected with the offshore substation, the nerve center of the wind farm, in August 2014.

Following completion which is scheduled for spring 2015, the Nordsee Ost offshore wind farm will have an installed capacity of around 295MW.

Fitted with the currently most powerful offshore turbines, the project is one of the largest commercial wind power projects off the German coast and will supply an equivalent of some 300,000 households with electricity every year.

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Image: Cable laying vessel Stemat Spirit at sea. Photo: courtesy of RWE Innogy.