Siemens Goes Local on Moray East

Siemens has placed multi-million pound contracts with companies across the UK for the construction of the transmission infrastructure for the Moray East offshore wind farm.

As the lead contractor for onshore transmission infrastructure construction works for the 950MW wind farm, Siemens has placed several subcontracts since work began in September 2018.

BAM Nuttall has been appointed as the main subcontractor to complete the civil works for the onshore substation that is being constructed to connect the project to the grid. The contract will see BAM Nuttall’s Glasgow office complete civil and building works, including foundations for the transformers, shunt reactors and switchgear equipment as well as constructing the internal road, fence and internal drainage works at the new onshore substation being built at New Deer.

Firms from the area local to the onshore construction sites have been working on site enabling works ahead of major civil construction works including preparation of the substation site and onshore cable route as well as provision of building materials and plant, Siemens said.

Perth civil engineering company, I & H Brown are undertaking enabling work on the onshore substation site, while JGC Engineering and Technical Services of Thurso will fabricate and fit out the high voltage equipment containers which will be shipped later this summer for integration into the project’s offshore substation platforms. In addition, Barrier Architectural has been appointed to fabricate a set of containers from its Stockton-on-Tees facility.

VolkerInfra, based in Preston, will provide and install the high voltage onshore export cables for the project which stretch the 35km underground cable route from near Whitehills on the Aberdeenshire coast to the new substation site south of New Deer. VolkerInfra has appointed Scottish companies to deliver road improvements and complete horizontal directional drilling works required for the cable installation.

Siemens is responsible for the complete construction of the onshore substation, including three SVC Plus advanced STATCOMs, as well as supplying three offshore substation platform topsides for the project.

Anwer Amara-Korba, Project Director at Moray East for Siemens Transmission and Distribution, said: “This is one of the largest construction projects in Scotland and it is vital that companies based in the local area get to share in its success. It will be a key part of providing clean, sustainable energy for Scotland to meet its low carbon aims, providing enough power for one million homes. We’re very proud to be working on the Moray East project and with a team who are so firmly committed to leaving a positive legacy in Aberdeenshire.”

Moray East will comprise 100 MHI Vestas 9.5MW wind turbines mounted on jacket foundations at the site some 22 kilometres off the Aberdeenshire coast in Scotland. The wind farm is scheduled to be fully operational in 2022.

“Moray East has been in development for the last nine years and we are now progressing with construction across various elements of the project,” Sarah Graham, Transmission Infrastructure Package Manager for Moray East said.

”The experience and capability of the local supply chain is crucial in delivering the transmission infrastructure required to grid connect the wind farm. We welcome Siemens’ appointment of its key subcontractors and look forward to working with them to deliver the project safely and successfully.”