Triton Knoll has marked another significant milestone in the delivery of critical new UK energy infrastructure, with the safe installation of the first of two offshore substation platforms (OSPs).
At 1400 tonnes each, these platforms will operate at the heart of the offshore wind farm which, when fully operational will be capable of generating enough electricity to match the needs of over 800,000 UK homes.
The OSPs are designed by Triton Knoll’s contractor Siemens Energy Limited. They are part of a state-of-the-art electrical system that will connect both the onshore and offshore assets into the national grid distribution network.
Installation of OSP West was achieved in the early hours of Sunday morning (12 April), and installed by Subsea 7’s heavy lift vessel, Seaway Strashnov. The structures are fabricated by Smulders, in partnership with Fabricom, with two specialist monopile foundations, transition pieces and cable decks manufactured and installed from Smulders’ Wallsend facility near Newcastle.
The two OSPs, East and West, will each receive electricity generated by the wind farm’s powerful 90 x MHI Vestas v164-9.5 MW turbines, before converting it for transfer to the landfall connection via two huge export cables due to be installed this summer.