New mooring solution for Kincardine OWF

Aug 1, 2019 - 10:35

First Subsea Ltd has won a contract to provide platform mooring connectors to the world’s largest floating offshore wind farm (OWF), situated off the coast of Aberdeen.

The company, part of the First Tech Group based in Aberdeen, has confirmed it’s secured the contract with Spanish developer and construction company Cobra Group to provide platform mooring connectors (PMCs) for the Kincardine Offshore Windfarm.

The PMC was developed by the Lancaster-based company specifically to address the shortfall in mooring technology in the floating offshore wind market. The PMCs will be used to connect the semi-submersible platform to mooring lines at a water depth of 45m-143m. The connector will allow the mooring lines to be pre-laid on the seabed, prior to the arrival of the wind turbine structure.

Once the structure is in place, the end of the mooring line will be collected from the seabed anchor and connected into the PMC located on the platform’s hull. The connector will then automatically engage and provide an efficient and strong mooring system.

The PMC technology eliminates the need for mooring hardware such as fairleads, sheaves, chain tensioners and chain lockers. Removing the traditional connection systems significantly improves the known fatigue issues associated with fairleads. An additional benefit of the PMC allows the hookup installation to be performed more efficiently using smaller offshore vessels, which in turn reduces project costs.

Greg Campbell-Smith, Sales and Business Development Director said:

“As a UK company, First Subsea is proud to be supplying platform mooring connectors for the Kincardine Floating Offshore Windfarm. We are pleased to be part of this project which is at the forefront of the UK’s technology and innovation plans to decarbonise our energy supply.”

The Kincardine Offshore floating windfarm is a 50 MW pilot project 15km off the coast, south of Aberdeen. It began generating renewable power in September last year with the installation of the first turbine.

The project will be completed next year with the installation and commissioning of an additional five 9.5 MW turbines each installed on a floating substructure.