CABLE INSTALLATION
FEATURE SPONSOR
WINTER WORKING? NO PROBLEM!
Siem Offshore Contractors was awarded the contract to supply, install, trench, terminate and test the 73 array cables for the 402MW Veja Mate Offshore Windfarm in April 2015
Siem duo operating at the Veja Mate windfarm October 2016
Alex Gauntt & Sebastian Zaitz from the Siem team pick up the story… Having commenced offshore cable installation operations in October 2016, little did we know that come February 2017, all 95km of copper core cables would be safely installed and trenched with termination and testing to follow shortly… over a month ahead of schedule. This despite working through the harsh winter weather of the North Sea around 115km North West of the German coastline. Let’s take a look at how this was achieved and what we learnt along the way…
TECHNICAL SUPERIORITY – THE SIEM DUO
The principle installation spread constituting the unique ‘Siem Duo’ are the Cable Lay Vessel: Siem Aimery and Installation Support Vessel: Siem Moxie (see issue 31). These ships and their crews, supported by an onshore project team, are at the heart of this remarkable achievement which represents more than
twenty years’ cable laying experience and technical development.
The purpose built Siem Aimery loaded the cables into its two sub- deck turntables, along with the cable protection systems into their dedicated under-deck hangar to lay and trench using its on-board trenching ROV in 3m significant wave heights. The two Work-class ROVs on board provided the subsea intervention support during the lay activities which were completed in 2.5m significant wave heights.
Meanwhile the Siem Moxie transferred the personnel to the foundations and substation using its heave compensated gangway in wave heights of 2.5m significant to support cable pull-in, termination and testing while deploying the ‘Offshore Support Units’ equipped with generators, pull-in winches, tools and equipment for personnel life support at the individual offshore work sites using its on-board crane.
During the array cable installation works for Veja Mate, Siem Moxie successfully transferred over 10,000
personnel to and from the individual foundations and the offshore substation. Marine warranty Certificate of Approval was obtained for the above limits, a new industry benchmark.
COMMUNICATION IS KEY…
A good working relationship with the client cable package manager, Klaus Zwirlein of Veja Mate, meant that any changes or challenges could be flagged up early and solutions agreed quickly. Through a state of the art IT solution between the onshore project team and the ships supported by high speed internet connection near-instantaneous revisions could be made across all the working teams once a change was agreed. As-built records could be turned around extremely efficiently and any identified issues could be dealt with before they became problems across multiple locations. We also benefitted from the office and offshore personnel being able to communicate seamlessly.
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www.windenergynetwork.co.uk
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