Wind energy – Seagreen
Construction of the world’s deepest fixed bottom offshore wind farm, which is also Scotland’s largest, has reached another milestone with the installation of a jacket in preparation for the project’s offshore substation topside which is due to be installed in early 2022.
The jacket was secured on the seabed using the Saipem 7000 heavy lift vessel.
Engineered, constructed and installed by Petrofac and weighing in at a colossal 5,100 tonnes, the six-legged jacket is now fixed to the seabed, at a water depth of around 55m. It will play a critical role in safely supporting the offshore substation above the sea during Seagreen’s 25 year operational lifespan.
The jacket has a seabed footprint of 43m x 43m and has built in tubing designed to guide the incoming 15 inter-array cables bringing the electricity generated by the turbines to the substation. In addition, the jacket also has tubing to guide the outgoing three export cables from the offshore substation to the seabed.
When completed in late 2022/early 2023, Seagreen will consist of 114 Vestas V164-10.0 MW turbines, the first of which was installed last week.
First power is expected by early next year with the offshore wind farm expected to enter commercial operation in 2023.