Osbit has delivered a multi-function pre-lay and backfill subsea plough to offshore engineering company Global Marine Group.
The plough, known as PLP240, was designed and built over a 20-week period, following the contract award in January.
Final assembly and sign-off was completed at Osbit’s Port of Blyth facility at the end of May.
Osbit has worked in close collaboration with Global Marine Group and its first client Vattenfall for the new plough to deliver a burial asset that will help to reduce the cost of offshore wind farm installation.
The vehicle offers single pass capability, which enables boulder clearance and pre-trenching up to 1.7 metres in a single run, leaving a boulder cleared swathe and a ‘backfill-ready’ open trench with segregated spoil.
The plough is also fully subsea adjustable and features a surveillance suite to perform accurate and effective trenching.
It can be reconfigured into backfill mode, which uses the same control and surveillance suite to monitor the cable and trench profile, enabling backfilling while ensuring the safety of the cable at all times.
The plough is also supported by an open source modular system incorporating Osbit Integrated Logistics Support asset monitoring, packaged in an ergonomic control cabin.
Following its completion, PLP240 will be officially launched by Global Marine Group during an event at its Port of Blyth facility in early July.
Osbit director Robbie Blakeman said: “I would like to thank Global Marine Group and Vattenfall for their genuine collaboration, which was key in supporting the project’s smooth execution, as well as our local supply chain, which played a major part in enabling this successful delivery and has again proven the world-class engineering capabilities in the North East region.”
Global Marine Group director of engineering Martyn Drye said “Our new PLP240 will allow us to reduce the time to first power production by shortening the wind farm construction phase, and therefore delivering an earlier return on investment for our developer clients.
“Through intelligent engineering alongside the Osbit team, we’ve created a versatile solution which integrates cable route preparation, cable laying and trenching – an industry first.”