Aberdeen-based Oceaneering International Services Ltd (OISL), a subsidiary of US-based Oceaneering International Inc, has been awarded a contract by Moray Offshore Windfarm (East) Ltd to provide a full suite of services — including vessel, route preparation tools, remotely operated vehicle (ROV), survey and personnel — to complete sea-bed route and debris clearance operations for the Moray East Wind Farm’s export cable routes.

This project is the latest to be secured by OISL for Moray East; the company’s ROV and tooling divisions have already helped to develop the site.

The work will involve using OISL’s RP15 route-preparation plough for boulder clearance; it has already been used on North Sea wind-farm projects including Race Bank, Westermost Rough, Hornsea and East Anglia.

Allan Ralston, Oceaneering’s director of renewable and sub-sea projects, said: “Our tried, tested and proven route preparation plough has successfully supported several UK wind-farm projects and will provide the most robust and cost-effective technical solution for route preparation in advance of export cable installation.”

The Moray East Offshore Wind Farm construction project is 22km off the Caithness coast. It is the second of three wind farms in the area and will consist of 100 wind turbines, providing an overall generating capacity of 950MW — enough to power 950,000 homes. Three 86km export cables will transfer electricity from the wind farm.