After recently being selected to provide export cables for the 1.4 GW Norfolk Boreas offshore wind farm, DEME Offshore and LS Cable & System have now also signed a contract with Vattenfall for the same work on the 1.8 GW Norfolk Vanguard offshore wind farm, both in the UK.

The consortium will be responsible for the design, engineering, procurement, manufacturing, testing and installation of around 320 kilometres of High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) export cables for the offshore route and around 180 kilometres for the onshore route to connect it to the national transmission electricity grid.

Works will be executed in 2027 and 2028 and will involve a cable installation vessel, a trailing suction hopper dredger, and a fallpipe vessel from the DEME fleet, the Belgian offshore construction company said. DEME also said its share in the project represents a sizeable contract, which for the company means a contract with a value of EUR 50-150 million.

The offshore wind farm developer, Vattenfall, said that choosing innovative HVDC cables allowed to cut the size of the cable route by a third, reducing the impact on the local area and making the project more sustainable.

According to m, LS Cable & System, the 320kV DC XLPE offshore cables will be manufactured solely with renewable energy which is also certified by LS’s Environmental Product Declaration Certification.

DEME and LS Cable & System signed the contract for the Norfolk Boreas offshore wind farm in October.

Works under that contract will be executed in 2026.

Norfolk Vanguard was awarded a Development Consent Order (DCO) in February of this year, a couple of months after consent was given to Norfolk Boreas.

Located more than 47 kilometres from the Norfolk coast and with an installed capacity of 1.8 GW, Norfolk Vanguard will provide the equivalent electricity needs of 1.95 million UK homes per year, while saving 3 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions, Vattenfall says.

Photo: DEME Offshore