Aberdeen-based subsea cable operator Hydro Group has completed a key tidal turbines project off Caithness for Andritz Hydro Hammerfest.
The MeyGen project has the potential to provide clean, sustainable, predictable power for 175,000 homes through a network of 269 tidal turbines secured to the seabed, with the first power to the national grid delivered late 2016.
This second MeyGen contract followed a contract with Atlantis Resources – 86% owner of MeyGen Limited – for which Hydro Group supplied the complete export connection system for one of the tidal turbines.
In the latest contract, Hydro Group – contracted by AHH – supplied the complete connection system for the remaining three turbines.
As part of phase 1A of the ground-breaking 398MW tidal array project, four submerged turbines, generating 6MW, have been installed in the Pentland Firth, Scotland, with more than £50 million having been raised to finance the initial stage.
Doug Whyte, managing director, Hydro Group said: “This significant MeyGen project Hydro Group is at the forefront in the development of cables, terminations, connectors and junction boxes, with involvement from the initial prototype stage through to design and manufacture.”
The scope of work involved Hydro Group providing the connection management system and interfacing the export cable up to the nacelle, including the dynamic cable, the in-board connection system and the mechanical loading system, transmitting a power output of 1.5MW at 4.0kV per turbine and incorporating fibre optic links.
Whyte continued: “As offshore installation costs are the highest in any marine infrastructure, minimising those costs has been a strong focus for us. We design our systems to mate and de-mate (connect and disconnect) in less than one hour to ensure offshore installation cost is reduced.”
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