Heerema Marine Contractors will transport and install the Dogger Bank C offshore substation under the contract awarded to the company by Dogger Bank wind farm joint venture partners SSE Renewables, Equinor and Eni. For the third phase of the 3.6GW Dogger Bank wind farm, Heerema will transport and install the project's 3,500-ton jacket foundation, four main piles and a 9,500-ton offshore substation topside.

The company will carry out offshore lifting to position the jacket foundation on the scour bed, using main piles to provide stability of the jacket at the bottom. The offshore substation will be lifted from the barge before the jacket foundation is lowered. "The installation of an offshore substation at Dogger Bank Wind Farm Phase 3 will be a momentous moment for our world-leading project. We welcome Hereema to our strong team of Tier 1 suppliers and we look forward to working with them to install this innovative platform on the DBC site", Dogger Bank Wind Farm project director Steve Wilson said.

Jeroenvan Oosten, Director of Wind Energy at Heerema, said: “Installing large offshore substations is a core business for Heerema Marine Contractors and we look forward to working together on the preparation and installation of Dogger BankC”. The three Dogger Bank projects will use what the developers say is the world's first unmanned high-voltage direct current (HVDC) offshore substation, delivered by Aibel. The platforms will be operated from shore and will only be accessible by SOVs (Service Operating Vessels).

Aibel was selected in October 2019 to deliver two platforms for 2.4GW Dogger Bank A and B, with an option to deliver a further platform for 1.2GW Dogger Bank C. The contracts for the first two platforms were signed in November 2020 after SSE Renewables and Equinor completed the financial settlement of the first two wind farms, with Dogger BankC following in early 2021. Keywords: engineering construction, engineering news

The company will deliver the Dogger BankA substation in the second quarter of 2023, the Dogger BankB is scheduled for delivery in the second quarter of 2024, and the Dogger BankC offshore platform is expected to be delivered in the second quarter of 2025. In 2020, Saipem signed an agreement with the Dogger Bank Wind Farm joint venture to transport and install two offshore HVDC offshore substations for Dogger BankA and Dogger BankB.Editor/XingWentao