Case Studies - Wind Farm
Scottish Offshore Wind Farm Project relies on Global Marine for subsea cable expertise
Environmentally friendly implementation takes into account sea, bird and land life
Impending Energy Shortage
In July 2006, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Energy Review highlighted that up to a third of the UK’s oil and gas generating capacity will reach the end of its life over the next 20 years. It is trying to tackle this major problem by increasing the proportion of electricity generated from renewables to 20%. This would mean the UK generating five times more renewable energy than it is today.
One flagship project helping to address the shortfall is the Beatrice Wind Farm Demonstrator Project (Beatrice) - a €41 million project involving the installation of two demonstrator wind turbines adjacent to the Beatrice oil field, 25 km off the east coast of Scotland. The project is being run by Talisman Energy (UK) Limited, an independent upstream oil and gas company headquartered in Calgary, Canada in partnership with Scottish & Southern Energy. The Beatrice Project is also funded by the Department of Trade and Industry, Scottish Executive and European Union.
The ‘underlying’ challenge
The first phase of the Beatrice project involved the installation of one wind turbine, the second to be installed in summer 2007. Lasting for at least five years the project will be used to examine the feasibility and benefits of creating a commercial deepwater wind farm at this site.
Talisman Energy was aware that one of the technical challenges of the project would be laying the subsea cables that connect the wind turbines to the Beatrice oil platform. In order to tackle this issue, Talisman contracted Global Marine Systems Limited, a leading provider of sub-marine cable installation and maintenance.
An Environmental Implementation
Using Sovereign, Global Marine installed the two main cables, each comprising a power and fibre optic cable which will connect the five megawatt turbines to Talisman’s Beatrice oil platform this winter and the other turbine next summer.
The company needed to pay particular attention to the surrounding environment to ensure that the cable laying installation and noise did not upset the sea life and bird life in this coastal region, in line with the procedures outlined in Talisman’s Environmental Impact Study.
This cable installation will enable Talisman to provide part of the power for the Beatrice oil field, using energy generated from the turbines. It will also remotely control and monitor the turbines’ performance from Beatrice.
The Beatrice Benefits
The Beatrice project will enable better understanding of the environmental impact of deepwater wind farms. Present offshore wind farms are located in relatively shallow water close to the shore, and are visible from land. Extending the area in which commercial wind farms may be located into deeper waters will have significant benefits.
Access to such areas will provide developers and governments with greater choice of locations for large wind farms. Large areas of the coast of northern Europe may be available, and this will encourage development in areas where there are considerable resources (in terms of physical space and wind energy), and, potentially, fewer environmental and societal concerns. In particular, it will allow the development of offshore wind at sites on the UK continental shelf, distant from the shore.
Ian Gaitch, Renewable Energy Manager at Global Marine commented, “Beatrice is an important project involving industry, academia and government collaboration of which we are pleased to be part. This is a milestone project in terms of determining the future of deepwater offshore wind farms and could encourage the development of other similar projects around the world to drive the renewable energy market."
Allan MacAskill, Wind Farm Project Director at Talisman Energy added, “Global Marine has a significant track record in providing cable installation to the renewable energy sector which, when coupled with its industry leading expertise and technology, made it an ideal partner for this project. We are proud that the Beatrice Wind Farm Demonstrator Project will serve as a benchmark for future offshore development.”
Resources:
Ship: Sovereign, one of the most advanced off-shore engineering ships of its kind in the world, is capable of handling the wide variety of subsea tasks required by such diverse industries as Telecommunications, Oil and Gas, Renewable Energy and Deep Sea Research.
Submersibles: Super Mohawk, a light work class vehicle equipped to carry out the tasks associated with light intervention and inspection works in the Oil and Gas arena and Atlas is a state of the art, ultra-heavy work class ROV designed for intervention, trenching, umbilical and power cable maintenance and post lay and inspection roles.
Ship-side team: This project was led on board by Ian Griffiths in his role as Offshore Customer Liaison Manager responsible for maintaining the day to day offshore relationship with the Talisman Energy. Ian Griffiths worked closely with the Sovereign Vessel Commander, Captain Chris Neave, both of whom were assisted by Chief Engineer Tam Peters, Chief Officer Bill Richardson, Chief Submersible Engineer (Cable) Gareth Roberts and Chief Submersible Engineer (Subsea) Mike Dale. In addition, due to the proximity of working close to the Beatrice Alpha Platform, two Senior DPOs were on board, Captain Simon Hibberd and Chief Officer, David Sanders.
Shore-side team: The Project Director for the Beatrice project was John Pattison who is responsible for the successful delivery of the wide variety of Installation and Maintenance Projects for our Customers.
