Nexans Norway is starting installation of the first section of Beatrice offshore wind farm export cable.
The installation will begin with the pull in and laydown of the first 33km section of the export cable from the nearshore area close to Portgordon.
The work will be carried out using the cable laying vessel Skagerrak, which will also conduct a pre-lay survey.
Once the preparatory work is complete, the vessel will start the cable lay at the nearshore end, where the cable will be deployed onto floats while the vessel is positioned around 1-1.5km North of landfall. As the cable is fed out, it will be tendered by approximately 5-8 small work boats (deployed from the Skagerrak) and lead towards the cable pull-in pipe .
The end of the cable will be connected to the end of the land based winch via the pull-in pipe and the cable will then be pulled through the pipe to the onshore jointing location (approximately 560m from the pipe entrance). At this point there will be approximately 1-1.5km of cable floating on the sea surface. This will represent a particular hazard to any vessels and to the cable at this stage of the operation.
Once the pull-in is complete, the cable floats will be removed working from the pull-in pipe entrance towards the Skagerrak thereby laying the cable on the seabed along the pre-prepared cable route. The cable will remain exposed on the seabed, unburied until the second part of the cable is laid. This is likely to be in late October or early November.
The cable lay will be supported by two guard vessels, Fisher Boys, and Artemis who will guard and monitor the cable area and route once laid.