IBERDROLA and NAVANTIA sign in London the contract for East Anglia’s Offshore Substation
24 November 2016 |
Iberdrola and NAVANTIA signed today in London the contract for the building of the electrical substation for the offshore wind farm East Anglia 1 (United Kingdom). The scope of the contract includes the construction of 1 module, of its jacket at the Puerto Real shipyard, and of the offshore supporting structure for connecting and operating it at the North Sea.
The contract entails an average labor of around 350 workers, although with “points of up to 600” along the next two years. The works will begin soon, and will be concluded in about 2 years, with the installation of the jacket and the module on the North Sea.
It is envisaged that NAVANTIA collaborates and provides support to Iberdrola during the following months in the project’s first stage, with the engineering’s development, as well as in other activities, with the goal of guaranteeing the terms and the quality of the supplies from the main collaborators. The manufacturing will start next spring.
The East Anglia offshore wind farm is located on the Southern part of the North Sea, at the Southeast, and it covers around 300 km2, around 45 km to the Southeast of the town of Lowestoft. East Anglia is made up by 102 wind turbines, with a generating installed capacity of up to 714 MW. The turbines are installed on jacket-like steel structures.
On the other hand, NAVANTIA has also a pre-agreement, whose signing is expected to take place shortly, for the construction of 42 jackets; these are the items which will fasten the wind turbines. These items will be manufactured at the shipyard which NAVANTIA has in Fene, in Ferrol.
The wind farm will have one electrical offshore substation (OSS) within the farm and two AC circuits connected to an inland substation at Bramford (North of Ipswich), beside the National Grid’s existing substation. The module is made up by 4 decks, which are supported by 4 legs, with a plant of 22.00 x 26.00 m. The total estimated weight for the module is of around 3,500 Tons.
The jacket will have a total height of 58 m, and it includes 12 J-tubes for the arrays and a further 2 for the export wire. Furthermore, it has two boat landings in order to allow ships docking at the substation. The total weight of the jacket structure is of about 2,400 Tons, and that of the 4 piles is of 1,167 Tons.
Iberdrola’s decision takes place as a result of the culmination of a very competitive bidding process, in which took part the main European shipyards and companies operating in the wind power industry. This new award constitutes a great step forward in NAVANTIA’s consolidation within the offshore wind power industry, and provides continuity to the contracts already implemented for the Wikinger offshore wind farm, which have been completed in a fully satisfactory way for Iberdrola.
About NAVANTIA:
NAVANTIA constitutes a world reference in the design, construction and integration of warships with a high-technological content, as well as ship repairs and upgrades. Besides, its activity lines include the design and manufacturing of combat and command and control systems, integrated platform management systems, firing control systems, propulsion engines and the Life Cycle Support for all its products. Although its main activity is in the naval field, NAVANTIA also designs and manufactures systems for the Army and the Air Force.
NAVANTIA is part of Grupo SEPI, a corporate holding which includes a total of 15 state-owned companies in which it has direct, majority shareholding participations, with a workforce of more than 73,000 professionals in 2015; the Spanish state-owned television and radio corporation, Corporación Radiotelevisión Española, which is attached to SEPI, and one public foundation. Equally, SEPI has direct minority shareholdings in another nine companies, and indirect shareholdings in more than one hundred companies.