By Renewable Energy Focus staff

The 42 km long, 3500 tonnes cable will transmit electricity from the 30 turbine offshore wind farm to the mainland. The cable contains 48 optical fibres transmitting signals to control the wind farm.

Project Manager Matthew Green says: “The next stage in this tremendous piece of engineering is for the cable plough to be deployed on the vessel and for the installation of the offshore cabling to begin. The plough simultaneously lays and buries the cable in the seabed. If the weather is kind, the cable will be connected to the offshore sub-station platform in five weeks time.”

The 32 inter array cables between the offshore wind turbines are to be installed in early 2011. Towers and turbine installation is due to start in March 2011.