Allseas vessel installs offshore wind substation, pipelay projects next

June 21, 2024
The Pioneering Spirit set down a substation for an offshore France wind project, while the Lorelay pipelay vessel heads to the Caribbean for pipelay work.

Offshore staff

DELFT, the NetherlandsAllseasPioneering Spirit completed installation of the offshore substation last week for Ocean Winds’ Eoliennes en Mer Iles d’Yeu et de Noirmoutier fixed wind farm project.

The development, 20 km from the Pays-de-la-Loire coast in western France, will connect 61 wind turbines to the 48-MW substation.

DEME contracted Allseas to set down the jacket and topsides, which were transferred to Pioneering Spirit at the offshore location and installed directly using the vessel’s 5000-t crane.

Previously, DEME had installed the pin piles in the rocky sea floor to secure the jacket foundation.

Allseas says the two-day program was a repeat of the substation installation for the Saint-Nazaire wind farm in August 2021.

The company also confirmed on June 13 that Pioneering Spirit will install the pipeline for Phase 2 of Equinor’s Troll Phase 3 project in the Norwegian North Sea in 2026.

Phase 3 is designed to step up production and sustain high capacity at the Troll A platform and the Kollsnes onshore reception facility through 2030. Phase 3 will produce gas from the Troll West field via subsea tiebacks to Troll A, 80 km northwest of Bergen.

For Stage 2, Allseas is due to install a 28-km, 36-inch concrete-weight-coated gas line parallel to the Stage 1 pipeline that Solitaire installed in 2020. The new line will contain three inline tees, one for a future tie-in.

The latest Troll scope award includes fabrication and assembly of pipeline heads and inline tees, installation and retrieval of counteracts, and flooding, cleaning and gauging of the pipeline system.

In addition, Allseas announced yesterday that its Lorelay vessel will head to the Caribbean at the end of the year to install a platform-to-platform off the east coast of Trinidad. Installation of the 22-km, 16-inch diameter line is planned for November.

Running at a water depth of 60-70 m, the pipeline will tie back from a new installation to an existing installation. The scope includes mattress installation and pre- and post-lay survey.

06.21.2024