A new vessel will be visible off the North Norfolk coast over the coming weeks as further work continues on the installation of the foundations for the Sheringham Shoal Offshore Wind Farm. The ‘Oleg Strashnov’ is a state-of-the-art crane vessel designed for heavy lifting operations, and its key features include a 5000-mt fully revolving crane combined with a high sailing speed of 14 knots.
The operator of the ‘Oleg Strashnov’ is Seaway Heavy Lifting Contracting, the company which has been awarded the contract by Scira Offshore Energy Limited for the installation of the Sheringham Shoal’s two offshore substations and its remaining foundations.
Seaway Heavy Lifting has an excellent reputation for the provision of marine transportation and construction services to the offshore oil and gas industry. The ’Oleg Strashnov’, one of the company’s newest vessels, is now in the Sheringham Shoal field undertaking foundation installation. Currently 19 of the 90 foundations have been installed
Each turbine foundation comprises a tubular steel monopile topped with a bright-yellow transition piece, which will ultimately be completed with the installation of the turbines themselves. Installation of the turbines is scheduled to start in June 2011.
The two offshore substations, which will channel the energy generated by the Sheringham Shoal Offshore Wind farm to the onshore substation at Salle for distribution into the National Grid, are also soon to be installed.
The Sheringham Shoal Offshore Wind Farm is owned equally by Statoil and Statkraft through the joint venture company Scira Offshore Energy Limited. Statoil is the operator for the project during the development phase. Scira will be the operator of the wind farm.
[mappress] Source: scira,May 05, 2011;