Offshore Wind Farm Subsea Cable Order

Subsea cable order for UK's Humber Gateway Wind Farm won by ABB

ABB has won an order worth around $15 million from E.ON UK, to supply the power export cables for the Humber Gateway offshore wind farm. When completed, in 2015, Humber Gateway will consist of a 73 wind turbine array that will generate up to 219 MW of electricity, enough to power up to 170,000 homes. The wind farm will be located 8 km off the East Yorkshire coast, just north of the mouth of the river Humber.

ABB will design and supply 2x14 kilometer (km) circuits of 132 kilovolts (kV) three-core AC submarine cable, with integrated fiber optics, to connect Humber Gateway, one of the UK’s largest offshore wind farms, to the mainland grid. Delivery of the cable is scheduled for 2013.

“This subsea cable will provide a reliable and efficient link between offshore wind farms and the mainland grid enabling a clean energy supply,” said Martin Gross, head of ABB's Grid System business within the company’s Power Systems division. “Offshore wind power, as a fast growing source of large-scale renewable energy is making an increasing contribution towards lowering the environmental impact of electricity generation.”

ABB recently announced investments of $90 million and $400 million in the US and Sweden to increase production capacity of land and subsea cables, respectively.