Dredging International, part of the DEME Group, has secured the contract from Belgian transmission system operator Elia for the submarine power cable installation for the Modular Offshore Grid (MOG) in the North Sea.
Elia’s Modular Offshore Grid, or so-called electricity plug, includes an Offshore Switchyard Platform (OSY) located about 40 kilometers off the Zeebrugge coast, to which four wind farms will be connected.
Submarine cables will link the platform with a substation in Belgium, where produced wind energy will be injected in the Belgian onshore grid.
For seabed preparation, DEME will deploy its dual fuel hoppers ‘Minerva’ and ‘Scheldt River’, the newest additions to the fleet and the world’s first LNG powered dredgers.
Cables will be installed by multipurpose vessel ‘Living Stone’, entering the DEME fleet in 2017 and operated by Tideway.
Two turntables below deck, each having a 5,000 tons cable capacity, can carry, transport and install more than 200 km of cable in a single trip.
The contract has been valued to approximately EUR 130 million.
The Modular Offshore Grid is scheduled to be taken into use in the third quarter of 2019.