Equinor has signed a multi-year cable maintenance and management framework agreement for its UK offshore wind farms with Global Offshore, part of Global Marine Group.
Global Offshore will supply cable management services and perform associated call off services, comprising of active cable maintenance as well as unplanned repairs.
The agreement gives Equinor access to Global Marine Group’s fleet of cable ships and CTVs, including the cable laying ships Global Symphony and Normand Clipper, equipped with one of Global Offshore’s Q1400 jet trenchers.
The framework agreement also covers the onshore and offshore export cables at Equinor’s Dudgeon wind farm, as well as the offshore export cables at Hywind and Sheringham Shoal, with the potential to cover other wind farms in the future.
The Complete Cable Care package offered by Global Offshore is designed to proactively maintain cable assets and respond quickly to power cable damage.
The service is supported by a maintained stock of universal power joints, as well as access to qualified jointers, prepared to respond rapidly to a fault or incident.
Global Offshore power cable maintenance director Andrew Lloyd said: “We have been providing an unsurpassed cable care service to the offshore renewables industry since the very first European wind farm installation 20 years ago.
“In the present day, we manage multiple framework agreements, covering over 2500km of subsea power cable as part of our Complete Cable Care solution, utilising pre-engineered scenario plans alongside access to the right cable spares, joints, jointers and assets, to support our clients’ operations.”
The framework agreement will mark the second contract for Global Offshore at Equinor’s Hywind offshore wind farm.
In Autumn 2017, Global Marine Group carried out the survey and trenching activities, involving cutting and jetting techniques, of the subsea export and four inter-array cables at the Hywind Scotland Pilot Park, a five turbine, 30MW floating wind farm, located 25-30 km off Peterhead, North-East Scotland.