The Inch Cape Offshore Wind Farm has successfully installed the first of its two planned 85-kilometre offshore export cables off Scotland’s east coast.
The 220 kV, three-phase export cable was laid in three 28-kilometre sections by Enshore Subsea using a cable-lay vessel operating from the Port of Blyth. The cable was manufactured by Ningbo Orient Wires & Cables Co. Ltd (Orient Cable) and has a 2000 mm² cross-section.
Two offshore joints were installed, and the cable will soon be buried beneath the seabed. Once completed, the export system will connect the offshore substation to the onshore substation at Cockenzie, East Lothian.
Project Director John Hill said that the installation forms a critical connection between the offshore and onshore substations and represents an important milestone for the project.
The installation of the first export cable marks steady progress toward the completion of the Inch Cape Offshore Wind Farm, which will eventually deliver renewable power to the national grid from its offshore site in the North Sea.
