Offshore construction work begins for RWE's Sophia wind farm

Energy company RWE has announced that offshore construction has started at its 1.4GW Sofia offshore wind farm in the North Sea.

Work is underway to install subsea cable infrastructure from the UK’s northeast coast to the wind farm site on Dogger Bank.

The laying of the first sections of export cable marks the start of a three-year offshore construction phase and is being undertaken by cable contractor Prysmian’s Leonardo da Vinci vessel.

The vessel will lay the first section of high voltage direct current (HVDC) export cable, which will transport electricity from the wind farm back to the UK coast.

Sven Utermöhlen, CEO of RWE Offshore Wind, said: “Sofia is RWE’s largest renewable construction project to date, and its furthest from shore.

"The laying of the first section of export cable represents the culmination of 13 years of planning, preparation, and diligence, as well as a huge amount of support from suppliers and stakeholders alike.”

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Prysmian’s 170-metre-long Leonardo da Vinci vessel will operate out of the Port of Middlesbrough and will lay two 130-kilometre sections of cable in parallel. It will start its cable laying work from just off the Teesside coast between Redcar and Marske-by-the-Sea.

According to RWE, one end of each of the two sections of subsea cable will be pulled underwater from the vessel through cable ducts that were installed earlier this year. The cable will pass below the beach, sand dunes and road before emerging at the landfall construction compound. The vessel will then move away from the coast, laying the full length of cable along its set route towards the offshore wind farm.

Installation of two remaining 90km sections of marine export cable is planned for 2024.

By late 2024, Leonardo da Vinci will have laid four sections of ±320kV HVDC marine export cables with XLPE insulation, totalling 440 kilometres plus the accompanying communications cables.

The ongoing offshore construction works will include the arrival of the project’s offshore converter platform, due to make the journey from Batam, Indonesia to the UK in 2024.

Also planned for next year is the start of the installation of the 100 extended monopile foundations and array cables.

Sofia offshore wind farm will use 100 Siemens Gamesa 14MW offshore wind turbines (SG 14-222 DD). Forty-four of the project’s 100 turbines will be equipped with recyclable blades.