In a major industry announcement,
Global Marine Systems Limited is re-entering the power market after a brief
absence.
As of 16 November 2015,
Global Marine will once again be available to offshore renewables and power
market customers, bringing power and fibre optic connectivity to their
systems. In fact, the company is already celebrating its first contract
win, an inter-array project at the
Wikinger
offshore wind farm in
German waters, which is due for completion in 2016-17. The placement of
the order is, according to Global Marine, a demonstration of the confidence
in their heritage in the power market, both for offshore wind farm installations
and subsea power and interconnector installation projects, in which the
company has history dating back to 1987.
Over the past 15 years
Global Marine has completed subsea cable installations at wind farms off
the coast of the UK, as well as several sites in waters close to the Netherlands,
Germany and Denmark. In 2002, for example, the company installed 64 km
of cable at Horns
Rev, Denmark, Europe’s
first commercial wind farm. Global Marine was responsible for installing
and burying power cables up to two metres below the seabed and making 160
cable connections for the
wind farm’s 80 Vestas V80 turbines.
Similarly, three years later, Global Marine installed the cables for the
UK’s first commercial wind farm at Kentish
Flats, an array
of 30 MHI Vestas V126-3.3MWTurbines turbines off the coast at Herne Bay.
More recently, the company has worked on a number of notable wind farm
projects, including London
Array, Thornton
Bank and Global
Tech 1.
Today, Global Marine’s
customers can benefit from the company’s vessel, C.S.
Sovereign, which
is equipped with a pair of powered 2,300 tonne ‘basket’ turntables. These
are designed to operate at a linear speed of 900 m/hour, thus optimising
the cost-efficiency of cable-laying.
Beyond the offshore wind
sector, Global Marine has a long history in power cable installation. The
company is able to provide testimony regarding a number of completed high
profile contracts, including platform-to-platform, shore-to-platform and
shore-to-shore projects.
For example, in 2006, Global
Marine undertook a project that witnessed the installation and burial of
the Estlink
cable in the Baltic Sea, providing an interconnector between Finland and
Estonia. Four years
later, the company completed the direct shore end landing and lay of two
power cables at the EMEC
tidal test site at Eday, Orkney Islands,
as well as one new power cable at EMEC’s wave test site at nearby Billia
Croo.
“Although we are announcing
our re-entry into the power market, we are far from a newcomer in this
important sector – Global Marine can bring expertise and experience stretching
back several decades, gained from working on some of the highest profile
power market and offshore wind projects in the world”, says CEO, Ian
Douglas.
Global Marine provide its
clients experience in installations with over 300,000 km of laid cable
(23% of the world’s total), and in developing solutions utilising the
company’s engineering capability to adapt project specific needs.
“We are committed to
moving forward in line with the demands of the market,” adds Mr Douglas.
“Continuous improvement and progress are the company’s goals, as these
are of direct benefit to our customers. As a business we have diversified
successfully in recent years into markets that include deep sea research,
oil and gas, and now renewables. The award of the Wikinger contract demonstrates
market confidence in our ability to deliver a professional, timely and
cost effective solution to customer requirements.”
