Boskalis has won a new offshore export cable installation contract for the Hornsea 2 offshore wind farm. The contract with a value greater than 100 million euro was awarded by Ørsted Wind Power and consists of three export cable circuits with a total length of 380 kilometres.

The project scope includes the preparation of the offshore export cable route and the installation and protection of the cables. The three 130 kilometre long export cables will connect the offshore substation to the onshore substation by means of a 300 meter long horizontal directional drilling, crossing the sea defense of Horseshoe Point, UK. The project is expected to commence later this year with a planned completion late 2021.

Boskalis will deploy a trailing suction hopper dredger, a geophysical survey vessel and multiple cable-laying vessels to complete the job. The Dutch offshore contractor also invested in a new multi-mode plough for both the pre-lay trenching and backfilling. The plough can withstand 200 tons continuous pull, is capable of trenching at various depths and in a wide range of soil circumstances and was designed to minimize the environmental impact. The plough will be pulled by the recently added construction vessel Boka Falcon.

The Hornsea 2 offshore wind farm will consist of up to 165 turbines with a maximum capacity of 1.4GW and is located approximately 90 kilometres off the Yorkshire coast. When complete, it will be able to serve the needs of up to 1.6 million homes with clean electricity.