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XLCC commissions new cable laying vessel

Following a rigorous selection process, XLCC have appointed Salt Ship Design as the design partner for what will be one of the most advanced, dedicated, cable laying vessel in the world once production is complete.

The management teams of XLCC and Salt have signed a commissioning contract following the lengthy selection process that aims to deliver the new vessel by end 2024. The proposed design is markedly different to existing cable laying vessels that are in the market today and will deliver greater operability, will be more economical to run and will be cheaper to build compared to conventional design today. The vessel will have an overall length over 200m and a payload in excess of 20,000 tonnes.

Alan Mathers, Director at XLCC, commented on the signing, “This partnership is a major milestone in the growth of XLCC and demonstrates our commitment to the sector. Delivering a number of world firsts with this design, we aim to future proof our vessel with innovative and market leading capabilities, aligned to our overall organisational ethos”. Mr Mathers continued, “we have agreed the basic design, following on from the initial concepts, and will now work with Salt to agree potential future fuel and power options, A-frame design and detailed capability requirements of the vessel.”

Egil Sandvik, Managing Director of Salt Ship Design, “We are humble to be selected ship designers for XLCC’s ground-breaking project and proud that our ideas for a unique new CLV design have been adopted and further developed with XLCC and their partners. After a hectic competition and project development phase we are now seeing all the details coming together and are looking forward to move to the next phase together with XLCC”.

A key requirement of the design brief was that the vessel must be prepared for alternative fuel options to improve its carbon footprint. The final selected design will include options for alternative green fuel without hindering the overall operating capabilities of the vessel.

The vessel will operate from the proposed new cable manufacturing factories in the UK. Agreements for XLCC factories to be located in Hunterston and Port Talbot have been signed with planning permission applications underway. This investment in Britain’s new HVDC cable industry will also fuel a supply chain ecosystem including steel manufacturing, local fabrication, factory construction and fit outs, and support services for factories. XLCC CEO Simon Morrish said, “The demand for HVDC cable is expected to grow rapidly, to more than three times current capacity, over the next ten years¹. Investing in a British-owned and valuable, high growth export industry serving decarbonising economies across the world will create thousands of regional manufacturing jobs and stimulate demand for British made steel and aluminium for decades."

Once operational, the vessel will be used initially to deliver the Morocco-UK Power Project for Xlinks, a new electricity generation facility entirely powered by solar and wind energy combined with a battery storage facility. The facility will be connected exclusively to Britain via 3,800km HVDC sub-sea cables.

Kilde: XLCC på LinkedIn
 

XLCC to build new Cable Laying Vessel to address increase in future demand for HVDC cable​


XLCC, the new HVDC, renewable energy focused business in the UK, has completed the concept design of an advanced, first-of-a-kind Cable Laying Vessel to be delivered in the first half of 2025.

As the world strives for Net Zero, the UK, EU and other world economies have set themselves ambitious targets for decarbonisation. The UK, for example, has stated that it will be powered entirely by clean energy by 2035 and that it will fully decarbonise the power system in the same time frame. This ambition is driving an exponential growth in high voltage cable demand as the increase in installation of offshore wind and interconnectors drive a forecast six times increase (2020 - 2027 over 2014 - 2020) for HVDC cable.

The planned delivery of the XLCC CLV will support the Morocco – UK Power Project, the first client project, through the delivery of four 3,800km subsea HVDC cables from a wind and solar generation site in Morocco to the UK.

Alan Mathers, XLCC Director comments, “Our Vessel will be, on delivery, the most sophisticated, capable and green Cable Layer in the world. With this capability, we will be able to deliver on increasing demands globally for HVDC cable deployment and fill a current and future void in the market.”

In close collaboration with Salt Ship Design, the team have started the development of the basic design of the vessel whilst working towards the selection of a successful yard. This approach saves time as activities are started prior to the selection of the shipyard, further mitigating risk for all parties. The vessel design is being developed from basic design stage in 3D engineering software for best definition of steel structures and interiors arrangement. Operational aspects of the cable handling have been studied in close collaboration with MAATS Tech and Global Marine.

Tor Henning Vestbøstad, Sales Director of Salt Ship Design said, “We are thrilled to be part of this exciting project, an enabler for more renewable energy to the world. The design is now matured to the level ready for pricing at yards and we are glad to continue the development of the project for further maturing the details.”

XLCC has appointed V.Group as their partner to support with the technical development and construction of the vessel. V.Group’s strategic collaboration is being supported by expertise and capabilities through its technical services, SeaTec, and the yard selection and appointment through its procurement and contracting platform, MARCAS. The tender process is now underway, with the aim to select the successful yard by end Q2 2022.

Elliot Gow, V.Group CEO - Marine Services, commented, “V.Group is honoured to be selected as the partner for this ambitious and exciting project that will bring long term, sustainable energy production to the UK, whilst further reducing the reliance on hydrocarbons. We look forward to working with the highly capable team within XLCC, adding our blend of marine, technical and commercial expertise to bring this vessel successfully into operation.”

The design will shortly be released for tender to an identified shortlist of shipyards capable of delivering on such an ambitious project.

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Illustrasjon: Salt Ship Design
 
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