RINA has been awarded a contract by RWE for the Sofia offshore wind farm, to provide cable verification services and OCP (offshore converter platform) construction site quality services. The full scope of work for the Sofia project will be managed from RINA’s Sunderland office and is expected to bring ‘extensive opportunities to the UK supply base’.

The 1.4GW Sofia wind farm, situated in the central North Sea area known as Dogger Bank, will be one of the world’s largest offshore wind farms; the project is being undertaken by RWE — one of the world’s leading renewable-energy companies.

RINA will be providing third-party surveillance to support the supply of quality-assurance services required to verify the cable design, the manufacturing cycle by inspection, the project specific type test and final acceptance testing — along with reviewing cable-handling and load-out procedures.

The project includes a 220km 320kV high-voltage DC offshore cable running from the landfall area to the OCP, as well as a shorter 7km onshore cable to connect from the landfall area to the onshore converter station.

The reliability of these cables is crucial to the project, and RINA has extensive industry experience in the cables consultancy and inspection field, having worked with RWE on the Triton Knoll project and having supported numerous wind farm operators, cable industry R&D projects, and cable manufacturers with verification, design consultancy and testing services, including forensic investigations.

Steve Cullen, RINA’s head of project procurement solutions for Northern Europe, said: “RINA is delighted to have been selected by RWE to provide a broad range of services to such a prestigious project, which showcases the breadth and depth of RINA’s capabilities.

“The project committed to bringing extensive opportunities to the UK supply base, and this has been realised with our work award.”