Nexans has been awarded a major contract by SSE Renewables to design, manufacture and install the high-voltage (HV) onshore and offshore export cables for the Phase 1 development of the Seagreen offshore wind farm project.
Construction on the 1,075 MW project, which is located 27 km off the coast of Angus, Scotland, will start next year. When completed in late 2022 or early 2023, Seagreen 1 will be Scotland’s largest wind farm and single largest source of renewable energy, providing a significant contribution to Scotland’s net-zero ambition.
Nexans’ factory in Charleston, S.C., will supply the three 65 km offshore export cables. This factory was recently expanded to manufacture HV subsea power cables and is currently the only facility with that capability in North America. The three 20 km onshore export cables for the project will be manufactured at Nexans’ factory in Charleroi, Belgium.
Nexans is committed to working closely with local suppliers on subcontracting opportunities – including both the offshore and the land part of the contract.
The export cables for the Seagreen offshore wind farm project will be installed by the Aurora, Nexans’ brand new cable-laying vessel. The Aurora is currently under construction and will be delivered in the second quarter of 2021.
The electricity generated by the Seagreen turbines will be transmitted via the cables to landfall at Carnoustie. Once ashore, the land cables will transmit the electricity to a new substation at Tealing, where it will feed into the U.K.’s national electricity transmission system.
“We are pleased to have Nexans expertise on the Seagreen project as Nexans specializes in the supply and installation of subsea power cables,” says John Hill, project director of Seagreen.
Photo: Artist’s illustration of Nexans Aurora cable-laying vessel at an offshore wind farm
