Greater Gabbard News

For the next three months, three wind farm survey vessels will be busy in the Southern North Sea at the North Falls offshore wind farm site in the UK.North Falls, a proposed extension to the existing Greater Gabbard Offshore Wind Farm, is located approximately 20 kilometres from the East Anglia coast on a site covering a total of 150 km2. North Falls is jointly owned by SSE Renewables and RWE Renewables.The surveys, being conducted by the Dutch marine survey contractor Fugro, will be integral to the project’s environmental impact assessment…

Seacat Services, an offshore support vessel firm, has signed a long-term charter for the catamaran Seacat Magic with Greater Gabbard Offshore Wind Farm Ltd.Greater Gabbard Offshore Wind Farm Ltd. is a joint venture between SSE Renewables (50%) and RWE Renewables (50%) running the namesake wind farm. SSE Renewables operates the offshore wind farm.The 504MW offshore wind farm has been in operation since 2012, generating enough low-carbon renewable energy each year to power the equivalent of over 400…

CWind has announced that it has won a six months contract to provide crew transfer services to Greater Gabbard Offshore wind farm.   Its 19m catamaran, one of more than 20 crew transfer vessels in the fleet operated by CWind, will assist with O&M activities at the project, which became operational in August 2013. Under the contract, Greater Gabbard may decide to extend the charter of the vessel by an additional three months.

Strainstall, part of James Fisher and Sons plc, announced the completion of the world’s first Intelligent Fender System (IFS) trial with energy companies SSE and RWE at Suffolk-based wind farm, Greater Gabbard. The IFS is an in-house developed technology which aims to provide accurate and recordable data to improve safety and increase operational efficiency for vessel and offshore wind farm operators during transfer operations. The Greater Gabbard trial enabled Strainstall to…

The Harwich Dock Company (HDC) and Offshore Marine Management (OMM) have secured a significant long term contract with DONG Energy, one of the leading energy groups in Northern Europe, to provide cable storage and management services at the Harwich Navyard in Essex. The first project of this long-term agreement will see OMM providing cable engineering, commissioning, consultancy and general cables services at Harwich Navyard to support DONG Energy’s wind farm operations and maintenance works. HDC enlisted the expertise of OMM as cable industry specialists when the opportunity arose to provide a cable storage O&M hub for DONG Energy. HDC worked successfully with OMM in 2011, providing local facilities to OMM during the installation of array cables for the Greater Gabbard Offshore Wind Farm.

Clean Energy Pipeline, the online daily financial news and data service dedicated to the clean energy sector, released its preliminary analysis of venture capital, private equity, project finance, mergers and acquisitions and public markets activity during 4Q13 and 2013. New investment in the global clean energy sector totalled $58.2 billion in 4Q13, a 15% increase on the $50.7 billion invested in 3Q13 but a 21% decrease on the $74.1 billion recorded in the corresponding period in 2012. Despite the quarterly increase, total investment throughout 2013 decreased 20% year-on-year to $212 billion. Total investment in the global clean energy sector has now fallen for two consecutive years.

Greater Gabbard wind farm, which is reportedly the second largest offshore wind farm in the world, costing £1.3 billion and generating enough clean electricity to power over half a million homes, was officially opened off the coast of Suffolk by the Energy and Business Minister Michael Fallon. Greater Gabbard has 140 turbines and will double in size once the Galloper wind farm extension is completed in 2017. Offshore wind has the potential to provide enough clean power for 11 million homes in the U.K. by the end of this decade, creating 30,000 jobs and contributing £7 billion to the economy.

Strategic Marine, a specialist shipbuilder in Asia, today announced that Njord Offshore, U.K. fleet operator of Crew Transfer Vessels for the growing European offshore windfarm sector, has officially confirmed the option for two more high performance crew transfer and service vessels, taking the total order to eight vessels. So far, Strategic has delivered six vessels to Njord Offshore. The first, Njord Advocet, completed her maiden charter on the Greater Gabbard Windfarm for SSE and will join her sister Vessels off the European Mainland off Germany. The Njord Kittiwake is now working off Denmark and the Njord Curlew and Lapwing off Germany. The Njord Puffin and Petrel were delivered last month at Strategic’s shipyard in Singapore and have just arrived in Europe.

Almost 200 senior figures from across the U.K.’s offshore wind industry recently debated the future of managing operational wind farm projects. Delegates assembled to hear what lessons can be learnt from pioneering wind farm operators off the East of England coast, and the sharing of experiences and thoughts from past and potential developers which will help shape the future of the industry. The 'Asset Management: Reducing Cost, Addressing Risk' conference was staged at the OrbisEnergy centre in Lowestoft, hosted by national trade body RenewableUK. The event challenged the supply chain to rethink how operations and maintenance (O&M) can become a more integral part of planning at the design and construction phase of future windfarms.

At 576MW The Gwynt y Môr offshore wind farm will be one of the largest in Europe. The contract requires Reef Subsea Power & Umbilical assist with engineering, project management, ROV and survey operations linked to the subsea installation and burial of all infield array cables for Gwynt y Môr, located 13 kilometres off the North Wales coast in Liverpool Bay. The wind farm will have an installed capacity of 576MW, and is designed to be ultimately integrated into the UK National Grid in 2014. Reef Subsea Power & Umbilical (RSPU) has been tasked with installing and burying the 161 infield inter array cables. Workscope also covers connection to the two offshore sub-stations.

Scira Offshore Energy, the company developing the UK's Sheringham Shoal Offshore Wind Farm  with its 88 turbines situated between 9-17 miles off the coast of North Norfolk, is to charter Eden Rose, one of Tidal Transit’s innovative wind farm personnel and equipment transfer boats, to service the site development. The Sheringham Shoal Offshore Wind Farm is the third major offshore wind energy project to be supported by Tidal Transit vessels. Immediately after her arrival in the UK from Spanish ship builder, Mercurio Plastics, Eden Rose went into operation for RES Offshore in Grimsby, servicing meteorological masts 60 miles out into the North Sea…

South Boats Special Projects Ltd. announces the commissioning of its 54th offshore wind farm crew transfer vessel, ‘Iceni Pride’. The vessel is a South Catamaran 13m Rapid Response Vessel (RRV) built to fulfil a 5 year contract Iceni Marine Services has in place with Scottish & Southern Energy on their Greater Gabbard Offshore Wind Farm project. This vessel is the fourth built for Iceni with a further three in build and on order. Iceni Pride is outfitted to a very high standard with an abundance of teak and leather to take into account that one of the roles is VIP transportation.

Capitalizing on its experience and leadership in offshore oil and gas marine services, BOURBON continues to extend its range of services and strengthen its positions in the offshore wind industry. BOURBON has just installed an innovative offshore wind structure in the Atlantic. In perfect conditions off the coast of Portugal at Aguçadoura, BOURBON has installed a semi-submersible wind turbine with a WindFloat foundation, a project led by the Portuguese utility EDP and designed…

Offshore Marine Management (OMM) has completed a contract with Fluor for the installation of 36 inter-array cables at the Greater Gabbard wind farm. Originally contracted to install 29 cables, the remit of OMM’s work was expanded during the course of the project to encompass provision of a full range of installation services for 36 inter-array cables, including front end pre-engineering support, installation and the delivery of a final report using in-house survey capabilities. Work was completed using the 122m vessel Deep Cygnus. Greater Gabbard is a 504MW offshore wind farm, located 25 kilometres off the Suffolk coast. OMM’s Managing Director, Rob Grimmond said:  “I’m delighted to announce the project’s successful completion.

Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) specialist Ramora UK (www.ramorauk.com) reports that it has safely disposed of an unexploded World War II mine onsite at one of the world’s largest offshore windfarm. The four-man Ramora UK team used a Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) to place a countermining charge next to the 1,500lb (680kg) mine which had been assessed as high-risk due to damage previously sustained to it. Throughout the procedure a 1,500m safety zone was maintained to protect other vessels in the area.

MT Højgaard has awarded Jumbo Offshore the transport and installation contract for all of the 111 Transition Pieces (TP’s) for the Anholt Offshore Wind Farm (Denmark). The 400 MW wind farm is currently being developed by DONG Energy. The Anholt Wind Farm is located in the ‘Kattegat’, near Anholt Island, and will be the largest offshore wind farm in Denmark. One of Jumbo’s DP2 Offshore Heavy Lift Vessels will install the TP’s on pre-installed monopiles, starting April 2012. Anholt is a result of Danish government policy, which aims for a society independent of fossil fuels.

Fluor Corporation announced that its third quarter results will include a charge of approximately $163m, or $0.90 per share, for estimated cost increases on the Greater Gabbard Offshore Wind Project. During the third quarter, the project experienced a variety of execution challenges, including material and equipment delivery issues, primarily relating to the installation of wind turbine generators and subsea cabling. Following an evaluation of third quarter events, the company has revised estimates to include substantial costs for additional marine vessels and other subcontractor costs associated with equipment installation, equipment repairs and the estimated schedule impact which has been exacerbated by weather-related delays.

Jumbo Offshore has completed its TP-installation project for the Greater Gabbard Offshore Wind Farm (GGOWF), off the UK’s south-east coast. For client Fluor, Jumbo’s DP2 Heavy Lift Vessel Jumbo Javelin installed 131 TP’s (out of 140 in the field) with a record-breaking installation speed of more than one TP per day. The job included leveling and grouting operations and was done without any serious accidents or incidents. This is the first time that TP’s have been transported and installed using a free floating vessel on Dynamic Position.

Use of Dyneema ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) fiber is helping to ensure that a major construction project to bring clean energy to millions of people in the U.K. moves ahead as efficiently and safely as possible. The world’s largest offshore wind farm is under construction in the North Sea, 23 km off the coast of England. Scheduled for completion in 2012, the Greater Gabbard wind farm’s 140 turbines will generate 500 megawatts of electricity for the people of London. The turbines are mounted on top of 65-meter, 650-tonne steel “mono piles” that are transported by barge from the Verbrugge Zeeland Terminal in Vlissingen, Netherlands to the construction site.

Samson, provider of performance cordage, and Endenburg BV, Samson’s Master Fabricating Distributor in Europe, has provided Seaway Heavy Lifting (SHL) with the first very large diameter synthetic rope slings certified by Lloyd’s for offshore installations. The two lifting systems, made from 144-mm diameter AmSteel-Blue, Samson’s rope made with 100% Dyneema high modulus polyethylene fiber, are currently assisting in the installation of 140 turbine foundation monopiles as a part of the North Sea’s Greater Gabbard project, the largest wind farm currently under construction. SHL anticipated that synthetic slings would reduce potential damage to the monopiles during their transfer from the supply barge to the deck of the installation vessel in rough seas.

Jumbo Offshore’s crew, engineers and subcontractors have successfully completed the first leg of their current Transition Piece (TP) installation project. Jumbo’s DP2-vessel Jumbo Javelin installed the TP’s, the first 18 of a series of approx. 110, within schedule. The work for the Greater Gabbard Offshore Wind Farm (GGOWF), off the UK’s south-east coast, will take up the better part of the rest of the year. This is the first time that TP’s have been transported and installed using a free floating vessel on DP.