The Atlantis owned “Meygen” project has generated electricity for the first time from one of the three turbines supplied by Andritz Hydro Hammerfest. Quoceant would like to congratulate Andrtiz and Atlantis Resources on this major milestone achievement for the Meygen project. It is planned that all 4 turbines will be installed and generating by the end of this year and this is a great leap forward in achieving their objective.
Quoceant were contracted by Andrtiz Hydro Hammerfest to provide engineering support for the design of the cable management and connection system for their new HS1500 turbine supplied to the Meygen project. Quoceant’s scope of work included mechanical and electrical conceptual design work, construction and test of a prototype system, procurement of structures and parts, and final assembly.
The turbine and support structures are installed in three separate offshore operations. The turbine support structure (TSS) is first installed on the seabed followed by the ballast blocks which are located on each leg on the tower structure, these operations are carried out by a jack-up barge. The turbine itself is then installed by lowering it on to the TSS using an offshore installation vessel. The cable management solution provides a means to control the export cable during turbine deployment, holding it clear of the support structure as the turbine is lowered into position. The cable ladder can then be lowered and latched while laying the armoured tail into a chute which guides the to the sea bed.
All three Andritz turbines use this arrangement, which allows all cable terminations to be performed and tested above water. The Atlantis turbine utilises a wet-mate system, which offers the benefit of removing the need to handle the export cable during the turbine load out but introduces a number of different challenges.
The Meygen project site is located in the Inner Sound of the Pentland Firth, the stretch of water that separates Orkney from the mainland of Scotland. Phase 1A is regarded as the demonstration phase of the Meygen project that consists of three Andritz and one Atlantis each rated 1.5MW. When the Meygen project is completed the total generating capacity will be 398MW from 298 turbines, it is currently the largest planned array in the world.