SPONSORS OF EAST ANGLIA FEATURE
KEEPING GREATER GABBARD SAFE
Hydrosphere UK Ltd’s contract for the rental of six Cardinal buoys to mark Britain’s largest windfarm, Greater Gabbard, has been extended again by Fluor Limited.
Fluor - the principal contractor for the Greater Gabbard Offshore Windfarm project - originally approached Hydrosphere in 2009 for the supply of temporary navigation lights to mark the site in its construction phase. This involved the installation of 140 3.6MW wind turbines located around two sand banks known as the ‘Inner Gabbard’ and ‘The Galloper’ in the North Sea off the Suffolk Coast.
Hydrosphere delivered a total of 174 Carmanah 601 and M650 solar powered marine navigation lights in the construction phase - these were used to mark the monopile foundations to ensure the site would be seen by shipping, making the site as safe as possible for marine traffic.
LED LANTERN
The Carmanah M650, an advanced, self contained, high- performance and low maintenance solar LED marine lantern, has proved to be highly reliable and extremely robust and is one of the most popular lights Hydrosphere supplies to windfarms.
INTEGRATED LIGHTS
Previously lights powered using solar panels needed a separate battery box, however, as both lights and solar panels have become more efficient it is now possible to incorporate the solar system within the light.
“Integrated lights are increasingly being used for windfarms,” Andy Reid, Hydrosphere Director explained “Their small size and lightweight construction makes them ideally suited for this sort of application as they can be put on smaller platforms. We’ve supplied many of these lights to windfarms across the UK.”
JET 9000 BUOYS Impressed with Hydosphere’s track record, Fluor employed the company for the supply of six cardinal navigation buoys needed to mark the Greater Gabbard wind turbines. After undertaking a full site and design study to ensure that the buoys and mooring systems would be suitable for the stringent 100 year Ramboll weather study, the company recommended six JET 9000 buoys, which were installed in February 2009.
Reid explained the reason behind the choice: “The JET 9000 buoys are manufactured by world- leading buoy manufacturer Mobilis and provide a really robust and cost-effective solution for offshore and deepwater applications, especially where high
visibility is a must. As with all Mobilis buoys in the JET range, because they are constructed from UV stabilised polyethylene components these buoys really do withstand the elements and will retain their colour within IALA guidelines for more than 15 years.”
AUTOMATIC SATELLITE MONITORING SYSTEM Each of the buoys is fitted with an automatic satellite monitoring system designed by Vega which has greatly reduced the number of expensive onsite inspections required throughout the buoy rental. As well as monitoring parameters such as solar energy
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www.windenergynetwork.co.uk
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