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Substation jacket installed at Seagreen offshore wind farm
Construction of what will be the world’s deepest fixed-bottom offshore wind farm has reached a milestone with the installation of a jacket in preparation for the project’s offshore substation topside, which is due to be installed early this year.
Constructed and installed by Petrofac and weighing 5,100 tonnes, the six-legged jacket is now fixed to the seabed at a water depth of around 55 m. It will support the offshore substation above the sea during Seagreen’s expected 25 year operational lifespan. The jacket was secured on the seabed using the Saipem 7000 heavy lift vessel.
With a seabed footprint of 43 m x 43 m, the jacket has built in tubing designed to guide the incoming inter-array cables bringing the electricity generated by the turbines to the substation. The jacket also has tubing to guide the outgoing three export cables from the offshore substation to the seabed.
Situated around 27 km off the Angus coast, the £3bn wind farm is a joint venture between SSE Renewables (49%) and TotalEnergies (51%). When completed, it will comprise 114 Vestas 10 MW turbines, the first of which was installed last December.
At 1.1 GW, Seagreen will be Scotland’s largest renewable energy project and one of the biggest private investments in Scottish infrastructure. The wind farm will be capable of generating around 5,000 GWh of energy annually – enough to power more than 1.6mn UK homes, according to SSE Renewables.
Installation of the 5,100 tonne substation jacket
Photo: SSE Renewables
