Key milestones for Moray East

The wind farm said that the first offshore export cable has successfully made landfall at Inverboyndie. The installation of the offshore export cables is being undertaken by NKT.

The cable was pulled from the NKT cable laying ship, Victoria through an underground duct by a winch on the shore.

The cable will be one of three which will take power from the offshore windfarm via underground cable to a new electricity substation on the national electricity transmission grid near New Deer.

First OSP

Moray East has also successfully installed its first offshore electrical infrastructure – the first Offshore Substation Platform (OSP).

The modular 1200t OSP topside was installed on top of the three-legged jacket structure. The topside was installed using the Seajack’s Jack Up Vessel Scylla.

The 1200t topside contains all the essential electrical equipment including transformers and switchgear to transmit the electricity generated by roughly one third of the 100 offshore wind turbines, and increase its voltage from 66kV to 220kV so that it can be delivered through the export cable to shore with maximum efficiency and minimum losses.

The lifting operation required the precision mating of the 30mx28m topside with stabbing pins on the jacket within a tolerance of only 30mm.

A further two OSPs are due to be installed within the next couple of weeks.

The electricity will come ashore at Inverboyndie and will be routed via underground cables to the new substation.

By Rebecca Jeffrey