UK contractor First Subsea will provide platform mooring connectors to the 50MW Kincardine floating offshore wind farm, off the coast of Scotland.
Spanish developer and construction company Cobra Group awarded the contract to First Subsea for the platform mooring connectors for the project, located 15km south of the coast of Aberdeen at sea depths of 60-80 metres.
The Lancaster-based company said it has developed the specialised connectors to address the shortfall in mooring technology in the floating offshore wind market.
The devices will connect the semi-submersible platform to mooring lines at a water depth of 45-143 metres and will allow the mooring lines to be pre-laid on the seabed, prior to the arrival of the wind platform and turbine to the site.
Once the structure is in place, the end of the mooring line will be collected from the seabed anchor and connected into the platform mooring connector located on the platform’s hull.
The technology eliminates the need for mooring hardware such as fairleads, sheaves, chain tensioners and chain lockers. By removing the traditional connection systems fatigue problems associated with fairleads are no longer an issue.
In addition, the hook-up installation can be performed more efficiently using smaller offshore vessels, which in turn reduces project costs.
Kincardine began generating renewable power in September last year with the installation of the first turbine.
The project will be completed next year with the installation and commissioning of an additional five V164-9.5MW MHI Vestas machines each installed on a floating substructure.
Spanish company Navantia is fabricating the five floating Principle Power-designed substructures for the 48MW second phase of the Kincardine project.
The company will manufacture the Principle Power-designed substructures at the Fene yard, north-western Spain, as first reported in the last issue of
First Subsea sales and business development director Greg Campbell-Smith said: “As a UK company, First Subsea is proud to be supplying platform mooring connectors for the Kincardine Floating offshore wind farm.
“We are pleased to be part of this project which is at the forefront of the UK’s technology and innovation plans to decarbonise our energy supply.”