Tideway Lays First Hornsea One Export Cable Section

Tideway BV, part of DEME Group, has laid the first offshore export cable section at Hornsea Project One, Ørsted’s 1.2GW wind farm off Yorkshire, UK.

The wind farm will be located 120km off the Yorkshire coast, and three high voltage subsea power cables will carry electricity from three offshore substations to shore.

Tideway BV is carrying out the cable lay of this first section using Ocean Yield’s cable lay vessel Connector.

The Connector has two large turntables with the capacity to hold up to 6,000- and 3,000-tonne cables, and has laid subsea cables since 2012 in a range of different water depths. For this job, the Connector lay-system has been replaced with a bespoke back deck cable lay spread designed and installed by Tideway for the Hornsea export cable project.

Tideway’s work scope also comprises, in addition to cable installation, engineering, boulder removal, pre-trenching, pulling in cables to substations, crossing installation, offshore jointing and cable burial.

“This is a very exciting job for us, and an amazing opportunity to work on the biggest construction project in offshore wind. Due to its scale we have several vessels operating at the site, and over summer, the Connector will be accompanied by our own brand new cable laying vessel Living Stone,” Ken Swaegers, Project Manager, Tideway BV, said.

“The Living Stone will be equipped with an innovative dual-lane cable installation system, consisting out of two cable highways – one for laying the cable and one where the next cable can be simultaneously prepared, significantly improving production rates.”

When operational in 2020, the 174-turbine Hornsea Project One will be the first wind farm in the world with a capacity over 1GW and capable of providing clean electricity to well over one million homes, Ørsted said.

Duncan Clark, Hornsea Project One Director said: “We are pleased that Tideway has been able to mobilise the Connector to meet our specific requirements for this project, and we look forward to Living Stone coming to site to help build this remarkable wind farm project.”