The 1,700-ton topside built by Sembmarine SLP for the offshore substation of the 402MW Dudgeon offshore wind farm has sailed out of the port of Lowestoft, UK.
The four-deck topside will be installed on a 1,500-tonne steel jacket which was put in place some 32 kilometres off Cromer, Norfolk, at the beginning of June.
The jacket structure was also built by Sembmarine SLP.
Sembmarine SLP was contracted to work with Siemens Transmission and Distribution Ltd (STDL) to design and build the offshore substation for the wind farm owners, Statoil, Statkraft and Masdar.
The offshore substation will house all systems needed for the handling and export of power from the wind farm to the onshore substation at Necton, Norfolk and will connect to Dudgeon’s 67 Siemens 6MW turbines via 12 inter-array cables. Two export cables will take the power to Necton.
The wind farm is expected to be commissioned by early 2017.