Soil Machine Dynamics has handed over a purpose built pre-lay plough to Boskalis. The Dutch offshore contractor will use it to install 380 kilometres of export cables at Ørsted’s offshore wind farm Hornsea Two.
The cables will ultimately connect the wind farm’s offshore substation to the site’s onshore substation in Killingholme, Lincolnshire. Once complete, Hornsea Two will host an array of 165 wind turbines, each standing over 190 metres above sea level dispersed across an area of 462 km2. The wind farm will become the world’s largest generating 1.4 gigawatts to power well over 1.3 million homes in the UK.
Megalodon
The pre lay plough, named Megalodon by Boskalis, was manufactured on the north bank of the Tyne by Soil Machine Dynamics (SMD) and offers features such as an active steering, multi modes, specialised share design and remote-control access. It is the third such plough delivered by the company.
‘Together with the Boskalis innovation team, we have developed innovations for this plough, which reduce seabed impact and reduce vessel fuel consumption whilst burying to protect the crucial offshore wind infrastructure that is the export cable,’ says Paul Davison, Managing Director of SMD.
The Megalodon can operate in water at a depth of up to 500 metres and will be used in collaboration with Boskalis’ offshore support vessel, the Boka Falcon. With offshore works due to commence in May for Hornsea Two’s offshore construction. Boskalis are working alongside Ørsted to complete cable-laying campaigns for 2020 within six months. The wind farm is be completed in 2022.
Picture by SMD.
