Seaway7 signs $500+ million contract for East Anglia Three offshore wind farm

Seaway7 has signed a contract with ScottishPower Renewables, Iberdrola’s UK arm, for the transport and installation of foundations and inter-array cables for the 1.4 GW East Anglia Three offshore wind farm. The deal is worth between $500 million and $750 million, as per Subsea7’s definition of a very large contract and the classification of this contract as such.

The firm contract follows the signing of a preferred bidder agreement between the offshore construction company and the project developer last year.

For the 1.4 GW offshore wind farm, set to be built 69 kilometres off the Suffolk coast, Seaway7 will transport and install 95 monopile foundations, and supply and install 95 inner-array cables.

In addition to the heavy lifting and cable lay vessels, Seaway7 will also utilise its heavy transportation fleet to handle the significant transportation scope, according to its parent company Subsea7.

The company will be performing early engineering works throughout 2023 and will start offshore activities next year.

Ross Ovens, ScottishPower Renewables’ Managing Director for the East Anglia Hub offshore wind farms, said: “We’ve been moving at pace to put all the building blocks in place to ensure East Anglia THREE can get to work as quickly as possible, producing more green electricity in the UK, for the UK. I’m very proud that there’s more of the same to come while driving that transition to a cleaner, greener net zero future alongside partners like Seaway7”.

ScottishPower Renewables has signed several contracts over the past few months for the offshore wind farm, including an order with Siemens Gamesa for 95 SG 14-236 DD wind turbines.

East Anglia Three is part of ScottishPower Renewables’ GBP 6.5 billion (around EUR 7.4 billion) East Anglia Hub development which also includes two other offshore wind farms: the 800 MW East Anglia One North and the 900 MW East Anglia Two.

Construction of East Anglia Three started last year with onshore work on the converter station at Bramford in Suffolk and along the land cable route, while offshore work is scheduled to start in 2024.

The offshore wind farm is expected to be fully operational in 2026 and, once up and running, the 1.4 GW project will become the second-largest offshore wind farm in the world.