Dutch marine construction firm Van Oord has contracted Hellenic Cables for the supply of around 360 km of 66 kV inter-array cables and accessories to Sofia offshore wind farm in the UK, one of the largest single offshore wind farms in the world.
Under the contract, Hellenic Cables will design, engineer, manufacture, test and supply the cables from its production plant in Corinth, Greece. Cable production is set to begin in 2022 and be completed in 2023. The cables will be installed by Van Oord’s cable-laying vessel, Nexus.
.German energy firm RWE has contracted Van Oord Offshore Wind UK to provide the engineering, procurement, construction and installation of the monopile foundations and the array cables at Sofia.
“Building on the expertise and know-how demonstrated in previous projects, such as the Hollandse Kust (South) project, our goal is to successfully implement this project as well. Together with our investment in the next-generation custom-built green cable-laying vessel Calypso, this highlights Van Oord’s drive to continuously reinforce its market position,” commented Arnoud Kuis, managing director at Van Oord offshore wind.
The 1.4 GW Sofia offshore wind farm, sited in the shallow central area of the North Sea known as Dogger Bank, is the largest offshore wind project in RWE’s current portfolio. The project is located 195 km from the nearest point on the UK’s North East coast on a site of 593 sq km. The project will be operated out of an RWE hub in Grimsby.
