Pelagian has operated in the offshore renewable energy sector for over 10 years.
We have been working at the forefront of this new and challenging offshore industry, providing our experience and knowledge for the safe design and construction of offshore wind farm array and export power cables.
Pelagian provided a detailed GAP Analysis, cable route engineering and cable burial risk assessment consultancy services to the Rampion Offshore Windfarm.
Project work included the design and layout of the export and array cables and geospatial data management and expert recommendations for suitable cable burial equipment and techniques to inform the tendering process prior to cable installation.
The route engineering encountered challenging seabed conditions requiring the careful planning of the wind farm array cables in 20-40m of water around planned jack up locations and avoiding underlying paleochannel areas.
Pelagian were contracted by a major German offshore wind farm developer to provide expert consultancy services for the tendering phase of the project.
Pelagian provided a detailed review of the technical and commercial tenders for the laying of subsea cables on the project and analysed the capabilities of the cable laying techniques offered.
The client was fully briefed on the suitability of the tenders by utilising a detailed bid scoring system developed for the project.
Pelagian provided consultancy services and key personnel to the Gwynt Y Mor project during the planning and construction phases. Gwynt Y Mor is one of the world’s largest offshore wind farms and was completed in 2014.
Pelagian’s expert consultancy services included detailed route engineering and cable burial assessment for the export and array cables, geospatial data management for survey and construction data and providing expert advice on cable burial equipment and installation methodologies to advise the tendering process.
Pelagian provided numerous offshore based technical personnel for the project, including client representatives and engineers for geophysical surveys, cable lay and foundation installation works during the project.
In 2004 one of Pelagian’s first projects in offshore wind was the successful trenching of wind farm cables using a Gator trencher on Arklow Bank in the Irish Sea.
Arklow Bank wind farm is located on a shallow sandbank 14km off the East coast of Ireland and is the country’s first offshore wind farm consisting of 7 turbines and generating 25MW of power.
Pelagian provided the offshore expertise and project management to operate the Gator trencher. Gator is a tracked, self propelled shallow water cable trenching system, fitted with a chain cutter, enabling cable burial up to 2m in the shallow sand deposits and which provided a cost effective and comprehensive subsea cable trenching solution.
Pelagian has been providing cable route engineering support to numerous offshore wind farms in the Irish Sea since 2009, including Walney, Ormonde, West of Duddon Sands and Gwynt Y Mor.
Project work has included the design and layout of export and array cables, landing point optimisation, selection of burial equipment and burial assessment, managing cable crossings over existing seabed infrastructure and geospatial data management.
The seabed in this region provides a number of challenges for cable installation and burial, where mobile sediments, glacial till and boulders are commonplace. The cable route layouts and selection of burial equipment were designed to take into consideration the prevalence of these hard ground conditions and mobile sediments.
