Van Oord’s Nessie Trencher Gets WiFi Before Norther Works

nCentric will provide internet access and wireless communication on Van Oord’s Nessie onshore cable trencher which is set to be deployed for the Norther offshore wind farm.

According to nCentric, the trencher is currently being set up to bury the export cable coming from the 370MW wind project located some 23km from the Belgian port of Zeebrugge.

The Belgian network provider said it will supply the solution through the nCentric nova nodes which combine Mesh connectivity with 5G LTE as a backup and will make available several video feeds and serial data in the prefab office in Zeebrugge, as well as in the head office in the Netherlands.

The works are part of a contract that nCentric and Van Oord, the project’s Balance of Plant contractor, announced in March, under which Van Oord is using nCentric’s 5G offshore wireless network together with nCentric Nova nodes for its cable lay operations at the wind farm.

Prior to the Nessie cable trencher, nCentric provided the same wireless solution to Van Oord’s cable-laying vessel Nexus, as well as a system providing wireless access for monitoring the Norther offshore high-voltage station (OHVS) from land.

The Norther offshore wind farm will comprise 44 MHI Vestas V164-8.0 MW turbines optimized to deliver a maximum output of 8.4MW. Once fully operational in 2019, the project will become Belgium’s largest offshore wind farm.