Nexans has officially signed a contract for the Blyth Offshore Demonstrator Wind Farm Project after VBMS selected its 66kV cable system to provide the subsea connection between the offshore turbines and the onshore grid for the project.
This will be the first project to use the new 66kV cable technology. The standard voltage for array cables until now has been 33kV, but with turbines growing in size, a higher specification cable has proven more cost-efficient. Prysmia n and JDR have also introduced this kind of cable technology to the market.
The Blyth Offshore Demonstrator Wind Farm Project, located 5.7 km off the port of Blyth in Northumberland, consists of three arrays with five wind turbine generators each.
A 66kV inter-array cable network and separate export cables will carry the energy onshore.
The 66kV subsea cable will be manufactured and tested at Nexans’ specialist factory in Hanover, Germany, before it is supplied in one length in 2017. The related connectors will be manufactured by Nexans Power Accessories in Erembodegem, Belgium, and have been developed from the 33kV technology.
Matthias Kirchner , Director of Medium Voltage Submarine activity at Nexans, said : “ The design and efficacy of our aluminum laminated polyethylene sheath is widely recognized by the experts in the industry. We are extremely happy to have been selected by VBMS and its client, EDF Energy Renewables to be the first to demonstrate our 66 kV capabilities for offshore windfarms .”