• Renewable energy

Wind farm deal for JFMS

JFMS lands a new £3 million wind farm construction contract.

When it comes to wind farm construction support services, James Fisher Marine Services (JFMS) has an unparalleled reputation which has resulted in its latest appointment to work on the massive new East Anglia ONE wind farm.

Scottish Power Renewables, which is building the first of three wind farms off the coast of Norfolk (East Anglia ONE, TWO and THREE) has announced that JFMS will be its integrated marine services contractor during the construction phase of ONE.

As part of this significant £3 million contract, the team at JFMS will be providing marine coordination (using James Fisher’s state of the art, web-based Offshore Wind Management System, OWMS), supplying vessels (guard vessels and associated services), installing and maintaining offshore site boundary markers and a range of marine equipment and services as well as providing the offshore site with a cutting edge voice and data communication system (using the Fern Communications WaveCom offshore communications system).

Martin Myhill Sisley, managing director, JFMS renewables division says:

‘We’re proud to have been awarded this integrated marine services contract. We have had an eye on this prize from the day Scottish Power Renewables was awarded planning consent nearly four years ago, and the team has worked tirelessly to beat competition from a number of large national and international competitors to win the deal.’

JFMS is uniquely placed to work on this project. The team has invested heavily in the East of England over the last five years, spending the last two years working closely on the prestigious Galloper Offshore Wind Farm project for Innogy and developing its own renewables support base in Lowestoft which makes maximum use of local supply chains and skilled local personnel to support the regional offshore renewables industry.

‘The decision, in 2016, to relocate JFMS operations (offices and warehousing) to Lowestoft in Suffolk played an important part in our win.’

‘A large percentage of our Galloper workforce live within a few miles of the coast here, and Scottish Power Renewables’s contractual obligation to use both UK and local content made this an important part of our successful tendering process.’

Explains JFMS director, strategy and business development, Martin Dronfield.

Another major factor was the cost reduction implications of having a significant fleet of topside and subsea equipment located in Lowestoft, close to the site (such as topside support equipment, unexploded ordnance identification and disposal equipment, diving and ROV equipment and CTVs and survey vessels) which enables swift response with low mobilisation and demobilisation costs. As part of a highly successful ‘integrated services model’ used at Galloper, JFMS also brings together specialist in-house expertise from a number of the James Fisher group companies (such as Fendercare and Strainstall), as required, to provide a bespoke, streamlined service.

East Anglia ONE is a £2.5 billion wind farm development that has a planned generation capacity of 714 megawatts of power through 102 turbines – enough to power 500,000 homes. Preparatory construction and clearance has already started in order that the first turbines can be installed in 2019, to ensure the site is fully operational by 2020.

Jonathan Cole, managing director for offshore wind at Scottish Power Renewables, says:

‘JFMS has a proven track record for delivering comprehensive bespoke solutions which, coupled with the numerous bases it has in East Anglia, makes the company very well placed to support us on East Anglia ONE.’

This new contract also builds on work JFMS has previously undertaken for Scottish Power Renewables at its Wikinger project off the German coast, and the team at JFMS clearly hopes this new contract will act as a springboard for future large offshore projects.