World’s first 1GW wind farm
Bury-based cable manufacturer Roxtec has completed its latest contract in the renewables sector for the world’s largest off shore wind farm - the London Array scheme in the Thames Estuary.
The deal saw Swedish-owned Roxtec work with Siemens on two substations, which will manage the power distribution from the London Array windfarm. Once complete, the scheme will be the world’s first 1GW wind farm.
The project will supply enough power for around 750,000 homes – or a quarter of Greater London homes – and displace the emission of 1.9m tonnes of CO2 every year. It is expected to produce the first renewable power in 2012.
Roxtec’s UK Managing Director Graham O’Hare (pictured) said that Roxtec has now been used in every offshore wind farm in Europe.
“The wind farm sector is a key growth market for us. Our depth of experience and expertise means that our cable and pipe seals are now becoming a wind industry standard. We are determined to build on this and grow in the sector over the next decade as billions of pounds of investment is ploughed into it in the UK and across the world.”
O’Hare also commented that Roxtec developed a bespoke fire and ingress cable seal for the project to protect multiple high voltage cables at the point they entered the floor or deck. To meet the demands of the harsh offshore environment, Roxtec conducted tests in its in-house facility to ensure the products were certified safe for use.
“Safety is at the heart of every offshore project in the world,” he stated. “Our seals protect cables from a range of hazards includes flooding, fire, blast, gases and vibration. This ultimately helps protect people, buildings and equipment.”
Siemens’ Off shore Project Manager Richard Horan added that Roxtec’s approach had taken a considerable amount of ‘pain’ out of the project.
“We were really impressed by Roxtec. In reality we bought a product, but what we also got was many weeks of engineering time too. This was invaluable. We brought them in at an early stage because they had a ‘can do’ attitude to engineering challenges specifically to the challenge of sealing cables on the bottom deck.”
Horan commented that Roxtec remained ‘incredibly flexible’ throughout the design and build process. “The specification changed a number of times and instead of complaining they adapted,” he said. “Again this reflected their ‘can do’, helpful approach.”