Siem Offshore Contractors has completed pre-construction boulder removal works on the 588MW Beatrice offshore wind farm in the Outer Moray Firth, Scotland.
According to a Notice of Operations, issued by Beatrice Offshore Windfarm Limited (BOWL), Siem N-Sea completed the boulder removal works along parts of the array cable routes and at various foundation locations on 12 April. The vessel deployed a UTROV (Utility ROV) grabber system to pinpoint and remove individual boulders from foundation locations, BOWL said.
Siem was contracted by Seaway Heavy Lifting to carry out the pre-construction works, as well as to provide a turnkey supply and installation package for the wind farm’s inter-array grid cable system.
BOWL is developing the Beatrice wind farm on the north-western point of the Smith Bank, approximately 7 nautical miles off the Caithness coastline.
The development site will cover an approximate area of up to 130km2 and will consist of 84 Siemens 7MW offshore wind turbines and two HVAC Offshore Transformer Modules.
The generated power will be transmitted to the grid via two subsea export / transmission cables with a landfall near Portgordon to the south of the field and grid connection at Blackhillock.
The transmission cables will cover a route of approximately 38 nm from the wind farm boundary back to the landfall.
The wind farm is scheduled for commissioning in 2019.