First Subsea has successfully completed its first customer witnessed open water demonstration of a new Cable Protection System (CPS) for offshore wind farms. The CPS is being deployed on Hornsea Project One and it offers a quicker installation and reduced risk of cable fatigue compared to traditional systems.
Based on technology used for the protection of umbilicals and risers in the oil and gas industry, the CPS provides simple, non-destructive disconnection via remotely operated vehicle (ROV). The open water CPS demonstration took place at Rovtech Solutions’ Underwater Test Facilities in Barrow-in-Furness, and consisted of: assembly dockside, deployment subsea and pull-in into a mock-up wind turbine structure and disconnection by ROV. The test facilities allowed the demonstration to take place in open water as close to offshore conditions as possible, incorporating challenges such as poor visibility and seabed interference, while still being accessible and visible from the dockside.
