Cable systems manufacturer Prysmian Group said on Tuesday it has been awarded a contract worth approximately €30 million to develop of a turnkey submarine cable system for EDF Renewables' Provence Grand Large (PGL) floating offshore wind farm project in South France.
The system will includes 3 km of submarine dynamic inter-array cables and 19 km of export cables for a total of 22 km, in addition to the land cables for a route of 9 km, Prysmian said.
The 25 MW floating wind farm will include three Siemens Gamesa 8.4 MW wind turbines installed on float systems in the so-called Faraman zone, 17 km off the coast. Commissioning is scheduled in 2021.
All submarine cables for the project will be produced in the manufacturer’s centers of excellence in Drammen, Norway and Vilanova, Spain, while the land cables will be manufactured in the Gron plant in France, Prysmian said.
“It is the first turnkey project for a floating wind farm ever developed by the group, where we employ our innovative dynamic 66 kV submarine cables with EPR insulation. This project is also the first pre-commercial floating offshore wind farm ever developed in France,” said Alessandro Panico, Sales Team Manager - Offshore Wind, Prysmian Group. “The EPR technology is a key enabling factor for the development of dynamic cable solutions thanks to its unique mechanical and electrical properties.”
The PGL project also comprises of a full combined PRY-CAM permanent monitoring system, Prysmian said. All inter-array connections will be permanently monitored using PRY-CAM innovative solutions for Partial Discharge (PD) measurement, Distributed Temperature (DTS) and Acoustic Sensing (DAS) to measure all key operating parameters of the whole cable system.
“This is the first example in the world of a full combined permanent monitoring system for an offshore windfarm,” said Roberto Candela, CEO of Prysmian Electronics. “We have worked in close collaboration with the customer to design a tailor-made monitoring solution that will allow to constantly monitor and guarantee the rating of the transmission system.”