UK high voltage engineering specialist EDS HV Group has secured a 15-year turnkey operations and maintenance contract covering the transmission assets at the 504MW Greater Gabbard offshore wind farm off the Suffolk coast of England.
The deal is with Equitix Investment Management, which is the OFTO that owns the wind farm’s grid assets – made up of two offshore platforms, an onshore substation and the network connection.
EDS, which is part of James Fisher and Sons, will supply maintenance services on both the transmission and auxiliary assets, including fire systems and cranes, as well as crew transfer vessels.
The company will manage operations from its 24/7 control centre, including network surveillance, HV safety management and marine coordination using James Fisher’s offshore wind management system.
Equitix director Nathan Wakefield said: “We are delighted to have secured the services of EDS who are passionate about providing the very best operationally.
“They bring extensive experience to the management and processes of transmission assets like Greater Gabbard OFTO and we look forward to working alongside them to maximise availability and output to the grid.”
EDS HV Group head of OFTO projects Jonathan Ball said: “Supporting critical UK infrastructure such as OFTO assets requires a level of expertise and experience which we have developed in EDS for a number of years.
“We are thrilled that our efforts have culminated in this contract award at Greater Gabbard, fulfilling our evolution to a specialist provider of high voltage engineering services.”
EDS HV Group executive director Ryan Henderson said: “This is a key contract award which aligns with the James Fisher group’s long-term strategy to become the number one provider of operations and maintenance services to the offshore wind industry.
“We are really looking forward to starting this journey with Equitix at Greater Gabbard as we continue to build on our strong relationship.”