Project Experience

Greater Gabbard is the first UK offshore windfarm built outside territorial water and is currently the world’s largest offshore wind farm.  It is being developed by Airtricity, the renewable energy development division of Scottish and Southern Energy Plc (SSE).  The farm is 22.5 miles off the Suffolk coast with 140 wind turbines to generate over 500 megawatts of renewable electricity.  The power generated can supply more than 415,000 homes, equivalent to the approximate domestic demand of the county of Suffolk.

JDR was contracted to supply over 200 km of Inter-Array subsea power cables and related terminations to provide the essential links between each of the 140 3.6MW turbine generators and the Gabbard and Galloper offshore substations.  Each of the JDR-designed cables incorporates a 3 phase 18/30(36)kV power core and fibre optic communications.

The Greater Gabbard cables were designed by the JDR team to the smallest possible diameter, while maintaining the strength and weight for the field installation and service conditions. The phase conductors are insulated with XLPe.  A triple extrusion process was used for simultaneous application of the conductor screen, insulation and metallic screen. As part of the overall package, JDR provided its flexible pull-in terminations and hang-offs.  JDR’s aftermarket and installation team provided experienced and certified technicians to terminate the cables and fibre-optics offshore during the installation phase.