Hellenic Cables has been awarded a contract by Van Oord for the supply of around 360km of 66kV inter-array cables and accessories to the 1400MW Sofia Offshore Wind Farm in the UK.
The cables will be manufactured in Hellenic Cables’ vertically integrated, state-of-the-art submarine cable production plant in Corinth, Greece (pictured).
Cable production is set to begin in 2022 and be completed in 2023.
RWE’s Sofia Offshore Wind Farm is located on the Dogger Bank in the North Sea, 195km from the nearest point of the North East coast.
RWE has contracted Van Oord Offshore Wind UK Ltd to provide the engineering, procurement, construction and installation of the monopile foundations and the array cables at Sofia.
Water depths at the wind farm site vary between 20 metres and 35 metres and the total amount of power Sofia is likely to generate would be enough to potentially provide almost 1.2 million average UK homes with their annual electricity needs.
Once operational, the energy generated by Sofia’s turbines is expected to save more than 2.5 million tonnes of carbon emissions per year when compared to the use of fossil fuels in the UK.
Hellenic Cables is a subsidiary of Cenergy Holdings.
Cenergy chief executive Alexis Alexiou said: “Hellenic Cables, as one of the largest cable producers, plays a key role in the energy transition.
“We are proud to support Van Oord for a greener energy world and a sustainable life on our planet supporting the decarbonisation efforts in UK.”
Under the new contract, Hellenic Cables will design, engineer, manufacture, test and supply approx. 360 km of 66 kV XLPE-insulated inter-array cables and associated accessories.
Van Oord Offshore Wind managing director Arnoud Kuis said: “We are pleased to extend our relation with Hellenic Cables and contribute to Sofia, one of the largest windfarm projects in the world.
“Building on the expertise and know-how demonstrated in previous projects, such as the Hollandse Kust (South) project, our goal is to successfully implement this project as well.
“This project strengthens our leading role in the laying and burying of offshore wind power cables.
“Together with our investment in the next-generation custom-built green cable-laying vessel Calypso, this highlights Van Oord’s drive to continuously reinforce its market position.”