Glasgow-based Partrac has been selected by Statoil to provide real-time wave and current measurement services for its Dudgeon offshore wind farm off East Anglia.
The hydrographic specialist has been contracted to manage the deployment and maintenance of the equipment and the delivery of real-time waves and current data during the construction phase of the development.
Partrac selected a Triaxys wave buoy to provide reliable, robust real-time wave, current profile and sea surface temperature data. This is delivered to a secure operational website and used daily by the Dudgeon construction team to inform safety critical operations, such as 500+ heavy lifts required during the construction phase.
Sam Athey, Director at Partrac, commented: “We are very pleased to be delivering metocean services to Statoil and the Dudgeon Offshore Wind Farm. This contract award is testament to our commitment to providing safe and cost-effective metocean services to the offshore industries”.
Meanwhile, the 1,500 tonne jacket for the Dudgeon offshore substation is due to be loaded on to a barge today at Lowestoft in preparation for towing to the site in a ceremony due to be observed by local MP Peter Aldous.
The Sembmarine SLP yard in East Anglia is the UK’s only fabrication yard in the Southern North Sea and has achieved one of the most successful diversifications from its 40-year heritage in offshore structures for the oil and gas industry to the renewables industry, leading the field in offshore substation construction.
The project has taken 850,000 work hours since its award in September 2014, with the company’s workforce swelling to 240.
It was contracted to work with Siemens Transmission and Distribution to build the offshore substation for wind farm owners – Statoil, Statkraft and Masdar.
Pioneering technology has included a UK-first for the use of the suction buckets to sink the jacket into the seabed instead of traditional piling.
Aldous commented: “Sembmarine SLP is well-placed to carry out such projects due to Lowestoft’s strategic location close to many of the large wind farms to be developed in the southern North Sea in the next few years, but also due to the expertise they have built up over 40 years.”
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