The second offshore substation platform has been installed at Innogy’s 860MW Triton Knoll offshore wind farm off the east coast of England.
Installation of offshore substation platform (OSP) east was carried out by Seaway Strashnov overnight on Monday 15 June and marks a significant milestone in the project’s progress towards first power generation next year, the developer said.
The first phase of commissioning of OSP West, which was installed in April, is almost complete, and will be repeated on OSP East over the next few weeks.
The two 1200-tonne OSPs use Siemens Energy offshore transformer module technology.
Triton Knoll and Innogy project director Julian Garnsey said: “This is an important step in ensuring we remain on track, ready for turbine installation and export of first power early next year.
“Amid the challenges of the current climate, the safe completion of these installations is a great achievement, and testament to the teams of contractors and project personnel who have helped make this happen.”
Siemens Energy managing director of transmission solutions Mark Pilling said: “Installation of both OSPs is a significant milestone in this project.
“Now this has been completed we can begin commissioning work to get the wind farm ready to connect to the grid to provide the clean, green renewable power needed to reach net zero.”
Once fully operational, the two OSPs, will each receive electricity generated by the wind farm’s 90 MHI Vestas V164-9.5MW turbines, before converting it for transmission to the landfall connection via two huge export cables.
An initial 25km stretch of export cable has already been installed from the landfall north of Anderby Creek in Lincolnshire, establishing a connection between the onshore and offshore electrical infrastructure for the first time.