Global Marine Group to Safeguard Ørsted’s UK Power Cables Under the Atlantic Cable Maintenance Agreement

Global Marine Group (GMG), supported by its business units Global Marine, Global Offshore and CWind, has signed a framework agreement for cable repair with offshore wind farm developer and operator Ørsted.

Launching on 25th June, the framework becomes a part of the Atlantic Cable Maintenance Agreement (ACMA) which is delivered by GMG alongside zone partner Orange Marine. Should the dedicated ACMA vessel, C.S. Sovereign, be unavailable due to other commitments within the zone, this agreement extends Ørsted’s access to other assets in the Group’s fleet including the Global Symphony, ASV Pioneer and CTVs for ancillary services.

With some 1,150 turbines already installed offshore, Ørsted is the world’s leading operator providing 13 million people with clean electricity. The agreement covers most of the organisation’s UK offshore wind farm portfolio, including almost 900km of subsea array cable.

Benj Sykes, UK Country Manager for Ørsted’s offshore activities, said, “We have been looking for a solution which wraps all of our maintenance and replacement cable work into a single service provider, and we are pleased to be working with the Global Marine Group alongside ACMA and its members. Many of our wind farm sites operate in close proximity to telecoms cable already installed on the seabed, so the combined experience within the Group of working with both fibre optic and power cables and the depth of their collective resources, gives us absolute confidence in our chosen solution for the future.”

Alasdair Wilkie, Chairman at ACMA, commented, “ACMA is a non-profit co-operative subsea maintenance agreement consisting of 60+ organisations in the Atlantic, North Sea and South Eastern Pacific Ocean. We’ve worked successfully with Global Marine for many years to address the needs of our members and are looking forward to sharing our best-practice within telecoms to help forge the future of power cable maintenance.”

The framework also gives Ørsted access to the rest of the Group for offshore services with Global Offshore managing and conducting power cable replacement, and repairs supported by CWind including in-situ repairs, working to rectify faults within the confined space of each affected turbine. CWind could support Ørsted by providing temporary power for both planned and unplanned power outages, logistics and personnel, plus any necessary cable pull-in teams, termination and testing.

Ian Douglas, CEO at Global Marine Group, added, “Cable maintenance is intrinsic to our business, and having been a key service provider to ACMA and other maintenance zones for many years, we will be able to marry this historic telecom experience with the Group’s power cable experience associated with our participation in the post-millennium offshore renewables boom.”

Mr. Douglas continued, “This is a pioneering commercial and technical approach to power cable maintenance and repair, and we believe will set the blueprint for the future of combined cable and subsea asset agreements which brings about benefits for everyone across multiple industries.”