Installations, substations and supply contracts driving offshore wind progress
Offshore wind activity continues to advance on multiple fronts, with key installation milestones reached in the UK North Sea, new fabrication and supply contracts awarded across Europe and Japan, and early-stage site investigations under way in emerging markets.
Recent updates highlight progress on major transmission infrastructure, cable protection systems, offshore substations and collaborative R&D.
Heerema completes first jacket installation for Hornsea 3
Heerema Marine Contractors’ crane vessel Sleipnir has installed the first of two platform jackets at Ørsted’s Hornsea 3 offshore wind farm development in the UK southern North Sea.
EPC contractor Aibel had asked Heerema Fabrication Group (HFG) to build both jackets for the offshore converter station (OCS) platforms. The first jacket, L01, which is 54 m tall, was loaded out of HSM's yard in Vlissingen on March 11 and towed a week later by Heerema’s Kolga vessel to Sleipnir before undergoing installation at the offshore site in late March, 120 km from the Norfolk coast.
Construction of the second jacket, Link 02, should finish in August. Schiedam-based Enersea has performed the detailed design for the Hornsea 3 offshore substation jackets; both weigh around 3,500 mt and will each supporting 9,000-mt offshore substation topsides, built by Aibel.
Close to 550 km of array cables will connect the wind turbines to the two OCS platforms, where power will be converted from AC to DC for transmission to shore.
Smulders HSM begins fabrication of East Anglia TWO HV substation
Smulders HSM has started construction for the East Anglia TWO HV offshore substation topside and jacket foundation in the UK North Sea under an EPCIC contract awarded last year by ScottishPower Renewables.
Topside fabrication is taking place at HSM’s Stormpolder yard in the Netherlands, while the jacket is constructed at the group’s yard in Newcastle, northeast England.
The 58 m long x 35 m wide x 30 m tall topside will weigh about 5,100 mt, and the 40 x 32 x 58 m jacket will be about 3,450 mt. East Anglia TWO’s location is 33 km from Southwold on the Suffolk coast and 37 km from the port of Lowestoft.
It will have an installed capacity of up to 960 MW.
Aventus rebrands, adds more wind contracts
Inverness, Scotland-based Global Energy Solutions (formerly Aventus Energy) is working with Chantier De L’Atlantique in western France on a welding/protective coating project. This is connected to the offshore substation hookup for RWE’s Nordseecluster A development offshore Germany.
Other recent contracts include a multi‑million‑pound foundation completion project with Inch Cape Offshore and a five‑year offshore wind framework agreement with Saipem in the UK.
CRP Subsea to supply CPS for Vattenfall’s Nordlicht I wind farm
AIS subsidiary CRP Subsea will supply cable protection systems (CPS) to Jan De Nul for Vattenfall’s 980-MW Nordlicht I wind farm in the German North Sea. The 141 NjordGuard systems will safeguard inter-array cables at both cable ends, when connecting to offshore converter platforms and wind turbine generators.
CRP Subsea will engineer three CPS designs to suit installation requirements for the monopile and J tube interfaces at the wind farm. The systems will protect cables from over bending, abrasion, and fatigue, to help sustain reliability throughout their operational life.
Fugro assessing conditions for Petrobras’ planned wind pilot project offshore Brazil
Petrobras has appointed Fugro to conduct geotechnical site investigations for what could be the first offshore wind project in South America to progress under an environmental licensing process.
For the nearshore study for the 18-MW Rio de Janeiro offshore wind pilot, Fugor will acquire geo-data over a nearshore area off the coast of São João da Barra.
The program, designed to support design of safe and efficient activities, will include soil sampling, in situ testing and laboratory analysis across four coastal and shallow‑water locations, and onshore investigations connected to the cable landfall and routing.
Field operations and analysis start this month and will continue through, with final reporting planned next year.
Fugro’s teams in Brazil will work from the company’s Rio das Ostras hub, with laboratory analysis conducted at the company’ Pinhais location.
Sarens Spain joins SOMOS initiative to pioneer modular floating wind technology
Sarens in Spain has joined the SOMOS 2024 Consortium as a lead industrial partner in a three-year, €4.58‑million (US$5.2 million) public–private R&D initiative co‑financed by the Community of Madrid and the European Regional Development Fund.
The partners say the goal is to transform offshore wind energy through modular design and logistics innovation. The project focuses on developing a containeriszable, modular floating hull concept based on Modular Stackable Pontoons, to be applied across Esteyco’s ATOMS, TIM and AIRBARGE technologies, while also integrating advanced remote monitoring and intelligent control systems to improve efficiency and sustainability.
Working alongside Esteyco, Azimutal, Dhamma Blue, Beskar Forge and the Technical University of Madrid, Sarens will contribute its heavy-lift and engineered transport expertise with the overarching goal of reducing costs, simplifying deployment and accelerating the commercial viability of offshore wind as a cornerstone of the future energy mix.
Tekmar snags two contracts for offshore wind farm in Japan
Tekmar Group has secured two offshore wind contracts in Japan worth a combined £2 million (US$2.6 million), covering the supply of its 10th‑generation cable protection systems for a wind farm project in the country.
The scope follows earlier preliminary engineering and design work performed by Tekmar. Work will begin immediately, with revenue expected to be recognized through the remainder of 2026 and into the first half of 2027.
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About the Author
Jeremy Beckman
Editor, Europe
Jeremy Beckman has been Editor Europe, Offshore since 1992. Prior to joining Offshore he was a freelance journalist for eight years, working for a variety of electronics, computing and scientific journals in the UK. He regularly writes news columns on trends and events both in the NW Europe offshore region and globally. He also writes features on developments and technology in exploration and production.