As a proud North East business, it is a pleasure to collaborate with the region’s innovators to push the boundaries of underwater technology. Our world-first cable Lay and Burial Trencher, launched in 2003, is a leading example of the results this yields.

In the early 2000s, the UK was preparing to construct its first commercial offshore wind farm, North Hoyle. An £80m project, this represented a huge moment for the UK’s clean energy transition.

Working closely with MPI Offshore, formerly Mayflower Energy Ltd, SMD’s involvement in this project led to our development of the SMD Lay and Burial Trencher. This first-of-a-kind vehicle has paved the way for a series of subsequent technologies.

NORTH EAST COLLABORATION

In 2003, we began working closely with offshore wind specialists and fellow North East business, MPI Offshore, on a new wind farm construction method.

With no established build process in place, this was a pivotal period of trial and error for the offshore wind industry, and MPI aimed to improve efficiencies by creating a single turbine installation vessel.

The vessel, Mayflower Resolution, would offer an end-to-end solution by seamlessly establishing foundations, installing turbines, and laying a network of cables. With a reputation for engineering excellence, SMD was brought onboard to create a solution for the cable-lay component of this process.

Our answer was the first-ever Lay and Burial Trencher for the offshore wind industry.

THE TECHNOLOGY

The SMD Lay and Burial Trencher was designed to be deployed directly from the Mayflower Resolution onto the seabed. With a reel of cable mounted to the vehicle, it connected individual turbines using a simultaneous lay and burial technique, reeling cable directly into a freshly formed 2m trench. It was then recovered by the installation vessel and refilled, ready for redeployment.

An advanced vehicle, this trencher used a combination of cutting and jetting techniques to deliver consistent results across the complex geology of the North Sea. Forming trenches up to 2m in depth, it far surpassed the target burial depths of the time, which ranged from 1 to 1.5m.

A JOURNEY OF DISCOVERY

Over the last 20 years, offshore wind farm installation methods have evolved continuously. A journey that began with the North Hoyle wind farm has since led to wind power overtaking fossil fuels in UK electricity generation.

While MPI’s single-vessel approach is no longer utilised on offshore wind farms, it marked a vital phase in the evolution of clean energy infrastructure, with key learnings directly informing today’s installation methods.

The cutting and jetting techniques pioneered with the SMD Lay and Burial Trencher continue to be used to lay cables in the offshore renewable sector and have inspired a series of subsequent SMD innovations, including our market-leading range of QTrenchers. This project stands as a proud example of North East ingenuity, with regional collaboration having laid the foundations for a global clean energy future.

Robert Eddon, KEY ACCOUNT MANAGER
robert.eddon@smd.co.uk