Watson Farley & Williams (“WFW”) has advised long-standing client Vattenfall on the negotiation and signing of an EPCI contract for the export cables that will connect its Norfolk Boreas Offshore Wind Farm (“Norfolk Boreas”) to the National Grid. The contractor is a joint venture between LS Cable and DEME Offshore.
The contract includes the design, engineering, procurement, manufacturing and testing of around 360km of High Voltage Direct Current (“HVDC”) export cables and fibre optic cables and includes the offshore installation and onshore jointing.
WFW is also advising Vattenfall on entering into similar contracts with LS Cable and DEME Offshore for the remaining projects in its Norfolk Zone – Vanguard East and Vanguard West. WFW previously advised Vattenfall on its signing of a contract to deliver grid connection infrastructure to Norfolk Boreas in one of the first uses of HVDC technology for an offshore wind farm in the UK.
The large-scale Norfolk Boreas project is set to be one of the largest in the world and once complete will produce renewable energy equivalent to the needs of over four million households and save circa six million tonnes of carbon dioxide.
Vattenfall is one of Europe’s largest producers and retailers of electricity and heat with its key markets in Sweden, Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark and the UK, and one of the leading offshore wind developers in Europe.
The WFW London Projects Partner Martin Lucas and Senior Associate James Fryer supported Jarlath Joyce and Lisa McLeod of Vattenfall Legal who led on the transaction.
Martin commented: “It was a pleasure to once again support Vattenfall, particularly Lisa and Jar, on another vital component of the Norfolk Zone. A sustained period of hard work and dedication by a large team produced a great outcome for Vattenfall and the contracting consortium. This ongoing and continued collaboration between Vattenfall and WFW highlights both our unrivalled expertise in large scale offshore wind projects, as well as our commitment to long-standing clients”.
