The installation vessels
We’re using a variety of specialist vessels to transport and install the foundations, turbines, substations and cabling for London Array. Some of the vessels will also be used to accommodate our offshore construction team, who’ll stay on site whilst the wind farm is built.
Cable vessels
Stemat Spirit
The newly built ‘Stemat Spirit’, first launched in March 2010, will be used to lay the wind farm’s export cables. Built by leading Dutch maritime services company Stemat, the ‘Spirit’ is a DP2 special service workboat that can accommodate 60 crew members and has a top speed of around 10 knots.
We’ll use a variety of vessels and ROV’s to lay the wind farm’s array cables. For shallow water locations vessels will include:
- Stemat 82
- Stemat Oslo
- ROV Otter (below, right)
In deep water locations we’ll use:
- Pontra Maris
- Normand Flower
- ROV’s Atlas (below, right) and Excalibur
Foundations and turbine vessels
MPI Adventure
Another brand new vessel, the ‘MPI Adventure’ (below, left) will be only the second purpose-built vessel for constructing offshore wind farms when it arrives at the London Array site. It will be capable of transporting, lifting and installing more foundations and wind turbines than any other vessel. Launched in August 2010, the ‘MPI Adventure’ has a top speed of 12.5 knots, a maximum operating depth of 40m and can accommodate 112 crew and workers.
MPI Discovery
The MPI Discovery, another brand new vessel, will be used to install wind turbines at London Array. The vessel can lift 1,000 tonnes, operate in waters 40m deep and has six jack-up legs, providing a stable platform from which turbines can be safely installed.
A2Sea Sea Worker
The ‘A2Sea Sea Worker’ (below, right) is a modern jack-up barge that’s been specially designed for the offshore wind industry. We’ll use this vessel alongside the ‘MPI Adventure’ and ‘MPI Discovery’ to install monopiles, transition pieces and turbines for London Array. ‘Sea Worker’s four 73m long legs enable it to work at depths of up to 40m and its onshore crane can support weights of up to 400 tonnes.
HLV Svanen
The HLV Svanen was also used to install a small number of foundations at the London Array site.
Offshore substation vessels
Matador 3
This specialist heavy lift vessel (below, right) has been used, alongside A2Sea’s SeaWorker, to install the foundations for London Array’s two offshore substations.
Rambiz
The Rambiz (below, left), a multi-purpose heavy lift vessel with a lifting capacity of 3,300 tonnes, was used to install the offshore substation topsides, each weighing over 1,200 tonnes.
