Dunboyne, Co Meath, Ireland, Wednesday, 25th November 2020: EMR Integrated Solutions, a leading SCADA network and wireless telecommunications provider, today announced the completion of a communications upgrade project for the Greater Gabbard offshore transmission assets located off the coast of Suffolk in the United Kingdom.
The upgrade involves the deployment of 100Mbps resilient microwave radio links, specifically designed for marine applications. The links, located at two offshore substations, will transport vital plant information including wind turbine data, ensuring uninterrupted operational information to the onshore transmission SCADA system.
Commenting on the project, Roger Morgan, general manager of Greater Gabbard OFTO, said:
“We agreed on the most efficient solution which was mindful of people’s safety, the installation methodology and the project costs. It has been a big success story for us. Everything is working well and it is a rock-solid, robust solution for our needs.”
The team at EMR recommended the use of Advanced Space Diversity technology which uses fewer antennae for microwave connectivity as Alan Feenan, sales director with EMR explains.
“Three antennae, rather than the traditional four, provide a hybrid system with two separate paths. If one path is degraded due to tidal effects, the system immediately switches to the second path without any alarm or interruption. This provides reliable traffic pass-through of data as well as quicker deployment and more cost-effective project costs when compared to fibre-based interconnector replacement.”
As always with offshore installations, the main challenge was access to the substation platforms during periods of bad weather, meaning the project had to be completed during suitable weather windows.
EMR have a proven track record for delivering robust, high-throughput, low-latency solutions for mission-critical remote sites with plant-wide SCADA applications, such as windfarms and oil and gas terminals.
About Greater Gabbard
The Greater Gabbard offshore transmission assets are located in the North Sea, 40km east of Harwich. The wind farm comprises 140 wind turbine generators and associated transmission assets. The transmission assets are owned by Equitix Funds II and IV and comprise of two offshore substation platforms located at separate sites: Inner Gabbard and Galloper.
The substations are connected to the shore by three 45km subsea export cables. The onshore cables, at 0.6km in length, connect to the project’s onshore substation at Leiston, near Sizewell. The project is capable of generating 504MW, enough to power 500,000 homes per year.
For more information please visit : https://ggofto.co.uk/
For more information about Equitix please visit : https://equitix.co.uk/
About EMR
EMR Integrated Solutions is a leading provider of communications, SCADA and instrumentation solutions. With a track record stretching back to the early 1980s and a management team with a wealth of industry experience, the company has established a strong, successful foothold in markets as diverse as retail, hospitality, utility, transport, telecoms and public safety. The organisation has customers across Ireland, the UK and Europe and has the expertise, engineering know-how and project management capability to delivery large, complex, integrated solutions on time and within budget.
For more information, please visit www.emr.ie
