Dutch maritime infrastructure services company Royal Boskalis Westminster has been selected as a preferred contractor for Inch Cape offshore wind project in North Sea.
Image: Boskalis’ cable laying vessel Ndurance. Photo: Courtesy of Royal Boskalis Westminster N.V.
Inch Cape Offshore (ICOL), a subsidiary of Red Rock Power, has awarded the contract to Boskalis. The contract is dependent on the successful bid by ICOL in the upcoming UK Contracts for Difference auctions to be conducted in the middle of this year and financial close, which is expected to take place next year.
The Inch Cape offshore wind farm, whose capacity is expected to be more than 700MW, will be located in the North Sea, 15km off the Angus Coast in the East of Scotland.
The amount of the contract is expected to be £200m and it excludes procurement. Boskalis also stated that in the coming months it will assist the wind project company in engineering and design of the project.
The ultimate size of the contract including the cost associated with the supply of the wind turbine foundations and inter-array cables will be determined during this period.
Boskalis’ contract with ICOL includes engineering, supply, transportation and installation of up to 72 pre-piled jacket foundations and up to 84 inter-array cables in addition to the transportation and installation of the offshore substation.
The company stated that it will deploy its Bokalift 1 crane vessel to transport and install the foundations as well as the offshore substation foundation, sub-structure and topside.
Besides, the company, in consortium with NKT, will supply and install two export cables of 85km of length to connect the offshore substation to the mainland.
The project is still in its development stage and is scheduled to be executed in the period between 2021 and 2022, enabling Inch Cape to meet the CfD 3 delivery windows between 2023 and 2025.
When online, the wind farm is expected to power more than 550,000 UK homes, while avoiding nearly 1.1 million tonnes of CO2 emissions annually.
Last November, ICOL announced that the construction phase of the wind farm could generate nearly 1,900 jobs and £750m of investment to the UK economy.
During the same period, GE’s Grid Solutions, NKT and Boskalis Subsea Cables & Flexibles were given the responsibility to deliver the project’s electrical transmission systems package. These companies will deliver the 220 kV dual circuit AC export cables and both offshore and onshore substation infrastructure.