Belgium-based Marlinks has secured its first major contract in Taiwan for the cable health monitoring services of the export and inter-array cables of the 1,044 MW Hai Long offshore wind farm.
The contract awarded covers the design, supply, installation, commissioning of monitoring hardware, and ongoing provision of integrity monitoring services, including depth of burial, RTTR, DAS monitoring, and termination monitoring.
This announcement follows Marlinks’ recent project award announcement in the United States.
“We can only encourage Hai Long’s choice to select a complete cable health monitoring package, covering not only services based on temperature monitoring but also on vibration monitoring. We look forward to working with the Hai Long project team on monitoring its cables in these challenging sea conditions to ensure the power cables’ integrity remains intact throughout its operational lifetime”, said Roel Vanthillo , Co-founder and CEO of Marlinks.
As Marlinks continues to invest in the East Asian market, it is opening a branch office in Taiwan in 2023 after having set up a representative office in 2022, the company said.
The 1,044 MW Hai Long development will comprise two offshore wind farms that will be developed in three stages, with Hai Long 2 split into two phases: the 300 MW Hai Long 2a and the 232 MW Hai Long 2b. Hai Long 3 will have an installed capacity of 512 MW.
In July 2022, the Greek cable manufacturer, Hellenic Cables, was awarded an agreement for the supply of 66 kV XLPE-insulated inter-array cables and associated accessories for the Hai Long 2 and 3 offshore wind project.
A few months later, LS Cable & System signed a submarine cable supply agreement worth EUR 150 million for the offshore wind project.
The construction of the offshore wind farms, located some 50 kilometres off the coast of Changhua county in water depths of between 35 and 55 metres, is expected to begin in 2024.
The offshore wind farm – developed by a consortium comprising the Canada-based Northland Power Inc., Yushan Energy Pte., Ltd., and Mitsui & Co., Ltd. – will feature 73 Siemens Gamesa’s SG 14-222 DD wind turbines .
Once fully commissioned, the Hai Long project is planned to power 1.55 million households in Taiwan.