North East subsea specialist Tekmar Group says it does not expect to be “materially impacted” after Danish wind power firm Ørsted warned that a number of its windfarms need repairs.
The Darlington firm says it is in talks with Ørsted to discover the “root cause and remedial actions” at UK windfarm Race Bank, one of 10 offshore windfarms where the power firm says it has found damage.
Ørsted announced in its first quarter results that it had found issues at the 10 windfarms, where subsea cables have been eroded by rocks on the seabed, triggering further investigation.3
The firm, which is leading plans to build one of the world’s largest offshore windfarms off the coast of Grimsby, said it is taking “proactive measures” through a two-phase remediation approach, starting with stabilisation of the cable protection system to prevent further damage, then looking at repairing or replacing of damaged cables.
In his review, Ørsted’s CEO Mads Nipper said early assessment points to a total financial impact of around three billion DKK (£350m) across 2021 to 2023, including a warranty provision of DKK 0.8bn (£93m) to cover potential costs towards partners.
He said: “Further investigations are ongoing concerning the issue and the remediation measures needed, including the impact in relation to suppliers, partners, and insurance.”
Following on from the warning, Ørsted supplier Tekmar Group issued a response, highlighting how the damage can be caused by processes it is not involved in.
CEO Ally MacDonald said the Darlington business had been in talks with Ørsted in relation to one of the offshore wind farms, at Race Bank, off the Norfolk coast.
Ally MacDonald, CEO of Tekmar Group, said: “We note the comments made by Ørsted in their recent interim report relating to their discovery of array cable issues on a number of their wind farms across the UK and Continental Europe, and more specifically, in relation to cable protection systems.
“We are in discussions with Ørsted relating to the protection of their installed array cables on one offshore wind farm project, namely Race Bank in the UK, and are supporting them to identify the root cause and remedial actions through standard operational engagement.
“The main issue noted by Ørsted relates to abrasion of legacy cable protection systems (CPS) caused by movement of the CPS over the rock-scour installed on the seabed. Ørsted highlighted that this was a change in cable installation methodology across ten projects, where a second layer of rock was not used to stabilise the cable.
“The installation and maintenance of cables and cable protection systems in challenging subsea environments is complex and failure can be the result of many factors, including areas we are not involved in such as installation and scour protection.
“The technology solution continues to evolve as the industry matures to meet the changing requirements to support offshore wind projects, such that CPS abrasion is not expected to be an issue for future installations.
“At this stage, in relation to our ongoing discussions with Ørsted, we do not anticipate a material financial impact for Tekmar Group and we will provide shareholders with further information as and when appropriate.”
Shares fell 13.5% to 51p by lunchtime following the update to shareholders.
