Page 30: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (December 2021)

GREAT SHIPS of 2021

Photos courtesy Nexans

Nexans Aurora lectri? cation is at the heart of what Nexans does, and equipped with a dual turntable and laying lines for bundled its latest ? eet addition – Nexans Aurora which has DC applications,” a new capability.

E been four years in the making – is designed to help Another highlight of Aurora is its shallow water capabili- effectively extend the company’s capabilities globally, par- ties, as it is here that dif? cult seabed topography and adverse ticularly in regards to the laying of increasingly complex and weather conditions can really impact operations. “This is ex- deep cable arrays to serve the growing offshore wind industry. tremely important because we are normally ending up with a

With the arrival of Aurora – designed by Skipsteknisk and cable end in the landing operation, and the closer you can get built at Ulstein Yard – Nexans effectively doubles the physical to the shore and have safe operations while landing the cable, ? eet size, but the story on additional capabilities transcends the better,” said Ladegård the addition of one ship. Aurora is the company’s second main As it is designed to operate globally, Nexans Aurora had cable-laying vessels joining the 1976-built Skagerrak, as to be powerful enough to safely transit the high seas, but to well as a pair of high-capacity storage and installation barges transit ef? ciently, courtesy of a 20,000 kW diesel-electric called the UR141 and the EB32. “We pride ourself in being powerplant running on low sulfur MGO, a system that is fu- a turnkey solution provider for cabling solutions for offshore ture-proofed with the ability to add batteries when the tech- wind power and interconnector. We needed to add a vessel to nology matures further. In addition, it has Dynamic Position be able to make up for all cable projects we saw coming,” said for station-keeping abilities in rough weather.

Bjørn Ladegård, Director - Subsea Services and Installation, Once delivered Aurora is scheduled to get to work imme-

Nexans. Nexans Skagerrak was the starting point of the design diately, an interconnector project in Greece that will provide of Aurora. “A lot of the main parameters have been replicated a link between mainland Greece and the island of Crete in in order to build on the success of this ship, but to do it bigger depths of up to 1600m.The ? rst project in the offshore wind and better, quicker and cheaper, so we could continue support- segment will be the Seagreen wind farm in Scotland. In addi- ing bigger projects.” tion, the company is looking to build on its existing presence

The quest to design Aurora was dictated largely by the size in the US with its cable manufacturing plant in Charleston, and quantity of equipment and capability needed onboard. which will produce high voltage subsea cables. “We have fol- “We needed to make the ship wrap around the equipment lowed projects in the US for many years and we anticipate on- rather than equipment ? t on the ship,” said Ladegård, “and I going growth in the US’s offshore wind sector, especially with think we got the best of both worlds.” the federal Government’s strong support for the sector,” Nexans

Some of these enhanced capabilities are related to the carry- said in a release introducing Aurora. “As preferred supplier for ing capacity of the cables. “We can have 10,000 tons carrying Equinor’s Empire Wind, and our frame agreement with Orsted capacity in the turntable, in addition, we have 450 tons of ? ber for the US market, Nexans is well placed to support the US with optic key cable capacity. For interconnectors and HVDC, it’s further energy transition projects.” 30 Maritime Reporter & Engineering News • December 2021

MR #12 (18-33).indd 30 12/2/2021 11:02:45 AM