Second Moray East OTM platform installed

The second offshore transformer module (OTM) is now at its designated location at the Moray East wind farm site off Scotland, according to the project’s Notice of Operations.

OSP2, which was shipped out from Belgium on 30 June, was installed shortly after its jacket foundation and the OSP3 platform were put in place around 10 August.

OSP3 was the the first OTM platform to be installed since its jacket foundation was in place as of 22 July.

According to some social media posts, OSP1 – the third and final OTM platform to be installed at the wind farm site – is now ready to set sail from Belgium, as well. The OSP1 location in Moray East’s latest Notice of Operations is marked as having the scour protection installed as the location’s status.

DEME is the EPCI contractor for Moray East’s turbine foundations and the three offshore substation foundations, as well as for the transport and installation of the OTMs.

The OTMs are being supplied by Siemens Energy, for which Smulders and Engie Fabricom are building and sending out the platforms from Hoboken in Belgium.

Siemens Energy, which secured the contract to connect the wind farm to the grid in 2018, is also in charge of delivering a 35-kilometre underground export cable to the onshore substation at New Deer in Aberdeenshire.

The first subsea export power cable, with the landfall site at Inverboyndie, was installed by NKT in the first half of August.

The three OTMs will be linked together to cover the offshore wind farm’s rated capacity of 950 MW. The platforms will transform the output of the wind turbines from 66 kV to the transmission voltage of 220 kV and transmit the electricity to the grid on land.

Moray East, comprising 100 MHI Vestas 9.5 MW wind turbines, is scheduled for full commissioning in 2022.