At the end of May Fugro vessel Skandi Inspector successfully completed her first venture into the sustainable energy market. The vessel has been working on a large wind-farm project off Harwich, an area renowned for its operational difficulties. The location suffers from high currents and very poor visibility, but we like a challenge! The work scope for the vessel was to excavate soil and clay at the base of wind turbine mono-piles. The mono-piles had been installed earlier in the project and were ready to receive their top-side turbine mast and their infield (or inter array) cables. The excavation work was required to ensure that these inert array cables could be pulled into two guide tubes (known as J-Tubes). The excavation tooling and personnel for this equipment was supplied by Fugro’s alliance partner, Marin Subsea Ltd. The specific tool used for the project was the ‘SV Vortex’ and a mono-jet to facilitate in the breakup of the clay soils. On completion of the excavation phase Fugro deployed one of the vessels Triton workclass ROVs to verify that the excavated areas had reached the required depths this was conducted using an ROV mounted Reson 8125 multibeam system and the data received was processed onboard. During the project Fugro trialed various new sensors on the market. We used several sonars (both pole mounted from the vessel and ROV mounted) to provide assistance with positioning equipment and to provide real time monitoring of the excavation depth. The overall project lasted some 2 months and all-in-all it has been an interesting and challenging time for everyone involved. We have increased our experience of working in these conditions and of the technology that is available in the market place.
For further information please contact:
David (Jock) Nicol, Sales and Marketing Manager,
Telephone: +44 (0) 1224 257 600 / Mobile: +44 (0) 7768508139 Fax:+44 (0) 1224 853 900
E-mail: d.nicol@fugro.com / Website: www.fugrosubsea.co.uk
Address: Fugro House, Denmore Road, Bridge of Don, Aberdeen, AB23 8JW, United Kingdom