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Beatrice Offshore Wind Farm Project

Introduction

Seaway7 successfully completed the Beatrice Project (EPCI) in 2019. Beatrice, once fully operational, will be one of Scotland’s largest offshore wind farms, located approximately 13km from the Caithness coast. All Seaway7 vessels contributed to deliver the design, fabrication and installation of 84 jacket foundations, weighing over 120,000Te, along with 165km of Inner-Array Cables.

Project BOWL EPCI Foundations and inter-array cables
Location Scotland: Outer Moray Firth on the point of the Smith Bank, approximately 13km off the Caithness coastline
Water Depth Ranging between 38m below lowest astronomical tide (LAT) in the south of the field to 60m below LAT in the north
Project Type EPCI
Assets and Worksites The fabrication workscope was divided between various worksites in the UK, The Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and Denmark. This ensured timely delivery of all structures. Offshore installation activities were executed between April 2017 and August 2018 using Seaway 7 vessels, Heavy Lifting Vessels Seaway Yudin and Seaway Strashnov, Cable-Lay Vessel Seaway Aimery and Installation Support Vessel Seaway Moxie.
Date Awarded April 2016
Completion Date October 2019

Project at a glance

Offshore Scotland, located in the Outer Moray Firth, a 588mw offshore wind farm has been developed. Seaway7 were awarded the EPCI contract for the client Beatrice Offshore Windfarm Limited (BOWL). The scope of work included the engineering, procurement, construction and installation (EPCI) of the 84 wind turbine generator (WTG) foundations, piles and inter-array cables (IAC) and the transport and installation of the two Offshore Transformer Module (OTM) platforms for the Beatrice Offshore Wind Farm.

Highlights

Contract awarded in April 2016 with the first pile installed April 2017, followed by the first jacket in August 2017.
Seaway7’s first EPCI project in the offshore wind industry.
First time such a large scale pre-piled WTG foundation in this water depth.
The fabrication scope was divided across six fabrication sites to allow timely delivery of structures.
Riggerless installation of all jackets.
First project that could cope with tight early-age cycling limitations by implementation of jacket pile grippers.

Technology & Innovation

Standardized transition piece top sections allowed greater transferability of these sections between the yards. The pile mitigation protocol which was designed for Beatrice was implemented for the first time as part of a UK offshore wind farm and was found to be successful. The Pile Installation Frame was the first of its kind and all its smart components allowed very accurate pile installation which were installed well within tolerance. A hydraulic sea fastening system was designed for the S-2500 impact hammer which resulted in shorter cycle times for the operations. A riggerless jacket installation system was also designed in-house. Traditionally riggers are required to hook the slings onto the crane hook, however by using a combination of the so-called lifting bucket and an internal lifting tool with steering yoke and proximity sensors, all installation was conducted remotely without rigger intervention on top of the 80m high structures.

Seaway7 successfully completed the Beatrice Project (EPCI) in 2019. Beatrice, once fully operational, will be one of Scotland’s largest offshore wind farms, located approximately 13km from the Caithness coast.

Steph McNeill

EVP Renewables

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