Subsea connector specialist, First Subsea, has been awarded a contract to supply a cable connector for the third phase of the Fukushima Floating Offshore Wind Farm Demonstration, offshore Japan. In this latest phase of the project, the connector will be used to connect 22kV cable to a 7MW wind turbine – the world’s largest floating wind turbine.
So far First Subsea has provided all the cable connectors for both 22kV and 66 kV cables on the Fukushima project. In Phase 1, two First Subsea cable connectors were used to connect 22kV cable to a 2MW wind turbine and a floating substation, and a third cable connector for a 66kV cable connection to the substation. In Phase 2, cable connectors were used for two 22kV cables from the substation to subsea cable joints close to the eventual positioning of the wind turbines in Phases 3 and 4.
In Phase 3, the First Subsea cable connector will complete the connection of the subsea cable joint to the 7MW floating wind turbine.
Installation
The First Subsea cable connector has a self-activating, ball and taper mechanism allowing both diverless and ROV-less deployment offshore. The male connectors are guided into receptacles on the wind turbine and substation and, once engaged, cannot be released until the load has been removed. A simple disengage mechanism allows the connector to be disconnected and recovered for re-use.
Image: First Subsea’s 22kV cable connectors for the Fukushima Offshore Wind 7MW turbine/Fukushima Offshore Wind Consortium
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