Consortium to deliver cables for Leucate floating wind farm

Réseau de Transport d’Électricité has awarded the SDI and JDR Cables consortium an EPCI contract for the 66kV dynamic cables which will connect the Leucate floating wind farm to the power grid.

The 30-MW wind farm is currently being developed by Les Eoliennes Flottantes du Golfe du Lion, a consortium comprising Ocean Winds and Caisse de Dépôts, and is 16 km (9.3 miles) offshore south-east France in the Mediterranean..

The demonstration floating wind farm will feature three V164-10.0 MW turbines, in water depths of 65 to 80 m (213 to 262 ft).

JDR will design and manufacture the dynamic and static cables to connect the floating turbines to a grid at Saint-Laurent de la Salanque. The cables will be manufactured at the company’s facility in Hartlepool, UK.

JDR’s ‘wet design’ 66kV cable removes the need for a lead radial water barrier – the component most susceptible to dynamic fatigue due to the movement of a floating turbine.

In addition, the specially designed breakaway system will then protect the floating platform in the unlikely event of a mooring line failure in harsh weather conditions, the company said.

DEME’s French subsidiary SDI is expected to install the cables in 2022.

Source: Offshore Magazine