Testing, inspection, and certification firm Bureau Veritas and offshore cable specialist Nexans have entered a partnership deal to reduce risk and promote best practices for turnkey deliveries of high voltage power cables used for connecting offshore wind farms (OWF) to onshore grids.
Currently, the energy transition and the role of offshore wind is a critical concern for society. The offshore wind sector is developing rapidly, and substantial growth is expected for decades to come. At the same time, insurers’ studies confirm that high voltage power cables are among the most critical elements of offshore wind farms, BV said.
Reliability of high voltage power cables end-to-end solutions, including installation, becomes an essential enabler for the current and the next generation of cables required to capture energy in deeper water, BV said.
"Bureau Veritas and Nexans will partner to address this challenge and build trust for all stakeholders. Nexans provides high voltage cables to transfer the energy generated by offshore wind farms," BV added.
"Nexans is at the forefront of best practices in the industry with end-to-end solutions and has an extensive track record of projects delivered to the offshore wind industry – including the first commercial floating wind farm," BV said.
BV said: "As offshore wind farm installations are further away from shores and in deeper waters, the risk of failures could increase, making the reliability and quality of cables, and their installation, key."
"The Nexans and Bureau Veritas partnership builds on Bureau Veritas’ maritime expertise and extensive experience in risk management to help the offshore wind sector reduce operational risk. With thorough risk management and compliance with industry best practices, Bureau Veritas can offer its assurance on Nexans end-to-end Engineering, Procurement, Construction and Installation (EPCI) operational model," BV said.
"Effectively managing risk provides operational assurance and reliability with less downtime, reduced repair and replacement costs, and increased trust. Thanks to this partnership, both Nexans’ customers and the offshore wind industry will continue to reduce risks within the sector," BV said.
Nexans CEO, Christopher Guérin, shared at the last Nexans Capital Markets Day: “I’m happy to announce that we have entered into a long-term partnership with Bureau Veritas. Together, we will certify the Nexans “Way” of managing EPCI projects and risks, develop new standards for the offshore wind farm and interconnection industry, reduce the risk profile of such projects and develop improved standards.”
Matthieu de Tugny, Executive Vice President Marine & Offshore at Bureau Veritas, said: “At Bureau Veritas, we help shape a world of trust. By creating standards and verifying all criteria are met, we can help Nexans build further trust. Our marine expertise and experience in risk management and subsea to surface connections combined with state-of-the-art software tools will make this collaboration a success.”