Helix pushes on with North Sea Link campaign

Helix Energy Solutions multi-role construction support vessel (MSV) Grand Canyon III is progressing on the North Sea Link project scope of work.

The North Sea Link, a joint venture project between National Grid and Norwegian system operator Statnett, is a subsea electricity cable that will connect the UK and Norwegian grids.

Since the start of the campaign, the vessel has buried and surveyed over 155 kilometres of subsea HVDC cable in the North Sea.

This portion of work is Helix’s third and also the final phase of the North Sea Link project.

During this phase, the i-Trencher and T-1500 jet trenching system have mobilised on the Grand Canyon III.

They will bury over 260 kilometres of HVDC cable in the North Sea.

In July 2017, Aberdeen-based Canyon Offshore, the robotics division of Helix, won this contract.

The multi-million pound subcontract was awarded by Prysmian PowerLink.

Prysmian is one of the main cabling contractors, responsible for manufacturing and installing the two parallel HVDC cables.

According to the contract, Canyon Offshore’s task is to trench approximately 900 kilometres of the two interconnector HVDC cables.

By 2021 the two parallel 720-kilometre cables between Cambois, Northumberland in the UK and Kvilldal, in Norway will have been completed.

This will then make the 1.4-gigawatt North Sea Link the longest subsea power cable interconnector in the world.

It should also be operational by 2021, allowing the UK enough clean energy to power up to 1.4 million homes.