Drilling company sets sail with major wind farm deal

Directional drilling specialist AMS No-Dig has sealed a major deal for work at the world’s largest offshore wind farm.

The Scunthorpe-based company will design, supply and install cable ducts for DONG Energy’s Hornsea Project One which is located 120km off the Yorkshire coast and will span an area of around 407 sq km – more than five times the size of the city of Hull.

It will also be the first wind farm to exceed 1 gigawatt (GW) in capacity.

AMS No-Dig will supply and install three cable ducts around 200 metres long under the sea defence at Horseshoe Bay, south of Grimsby.

The offshore export cables, which transmit the electricity generated by the wind farm back to shore, will be pulled through these ducts and then connected to the onshore cable to provide a seamless connection into the national grid.

The work is scheduled to start in 2017.

Duncan Clark, programme director for Hornsea Project One at DONG Energy, said: “I am delighted to be signing this contract and to have another local supplier on board with construction of the world’s biggest ever offshore wind farm.

“Once operational, Hornsea Project One will power well over one million UK homes every year and it is an absolutely huge infrastructure project. The cable ducts being designed, supplied and safely installed by a company based locally in Scunthorpe is really encouraging and sends out a positive messages to the rest of the UK supply chain.”

John Moss, AMS No-Dig operations director, added: “We are looking forward to working closely with DONG Energy to ensure safe and successful delivery of the project scope at Hornsea Project One.”

Siemens has already been named as preferred supplier for the wind turbines at Hornsea Project One and the new Siemens turbine production facilities in Hull will support the project.

A £25m contract has also been awarded to infrastructure company Balfour Beatty for the construction of the onshore substation.