wiredinUSA October 2013

ABB has entered a joint industry program with Norwegian oil and gas company, Statoil. The program will develop solutions for transmission, distribution and power conversion systems designed to power and control subsea pumps and gas compressors at depths of 3,000m and over vast distances. The five-year program is pivotal to the development of technologies required to power and control large-scale subsea pumping and gas-compression projects planned for the Norwegian continental shelf, the Gulf of Mexico and other places around the world. The program is expected to provide solutions for the transmission of electrical power up to 100MW over distances up to 600km and to depths of up to 3,000m. This is important for the development of remote oil and gas fields located far from other infrastructure. This subsea electric power distribution technology enables several electric loads, such as pumps and compressors, to be supplied through a single power cable reducing investment costs significantly. The new technology, for example, could make savings of over $500 million, if eight loads are linked through a single cable over a distance of 200km from other infrastructure. ABB and Statoil to work together

New vessel for Van Oord

Van Oord has ordered a new cable-laying vessel, to be built at Damen Shipyards’ wharf in Romania. The new ship will be ready at the end of 2014. The ship is intended for the installation of electricity cables for offshore wind farms. Van Oord is making preparations for the Gemini wind park project, planned for a site 60km north of Schiermonnikoog, one of the Dutch Wadden islands. The investment is for a multi-purpose vessel with a dead weight of 8,500 tonnes, a length of 120m, a beam of 28m and a DP-2 (dynamic positioning) system. It will have a cable carousel with a capacity of over 5,000 tonnes and an offshore crane that will enable it to lay heavy and long export cables. It will have on-board accommodation for 90 people. The new cable-laying vessel forms part of the Van Oord strategy to offer a complete package for the construction of offshore wind parks as an EPC contractor.

wiredInUSA - October 2013

34