| Wind Watch is a registered educational charity, founded in 2005. |
Damaged offshore wind cables to cost Orsted almost half a billion dollars: CFO
Credit: Danish giant will add additional layer of protective rocks on some cable routes and conduct further seabed investigations until 2023 | By Bernd Radowitz | Recharge | 29 April 2021 | www.rechargenews.com ~~
Translate: FROM English | TO English
Translate: FROM English | TO English
Repairing damaged cables at already operating offshore wind farms such as the UK’s Race Bank, or boosting inadequate protection systems elsewhere, will cost Orsted about DKr3bn ($489m), chief financial officer Marianne Wiinholt revealed.
“We found out a short time ago that we had cable failures at one of the array cables at Race Bank,” Wiinholt said during a media call on first quarter results.
“When we investigated the cause of that, we found that more cables were damaged.
“The damage is caused by the fact that the cable protection system, which is both from the turbines and links to the cable, is placed on top of rocks. With the movement in the sea, this cable protection system gets damaged.”
Orsted previously wasn’t aware of the issue that it believes affects about 10 of its offshore arrays as the cable protection system it was using at the time was industry standard, she added.
“To a large extent we will be able to mitigate it through stabilising the cable protection system. It will be done by dumping rocks on top of the rocks that are already there.”
At other wind farms, the cables are so damaged that the company will either need to repair or replace them, which is more expensive than dumping more rocks on top of the existing protection layer.
To avoid further damage, Orsted will carry out two campaigns. A first one placing more rocks on existing cable routes will be done this year, while the company until 2023 will carry out more seabed surveys to see which cables need to be repaired or removed.
The first quarter of this year was already impacted by a DKr0.8bn warranty provision related to cable protection system issues.
This article is the work of the source indicated. Any opinions expressed in it are not necessarily those of National Wind Watch.
The copyright of this article resides with the author or publisher indicated. As part of its noncommercial educational effort to present the environmental, social, scientific, and economic issues of large-scale wind power development to a global audience seeking such information, National Wind Watch endeavors to observe “fair use” as provided for in section 107 of U.S. Copyright Law and similar “fair dealing” provisions of the copyright laws of other nations. Send requests to excerpt, general inquiries, and comments via e-mail.
| Wind Watch relies entirely on User Contributions |
 (via Stripe) |
 (via Paypal) |
Share:
[ Short URL: https://wind-watch.org/news/?p=100564 ]
