A COMPANY specialising in marine projects has won its first major wind farm contract.

Darlington-based CTC Marine Projects will lay, install and bury 17 subsea power cable arrays linking wind turbine foundations at the Robin Rigg Offshore Wind Farm, in the Solway Firth, Cumbria.

The company was awarded the contract by E.ON Climate and Renewables UK.

The project is expected to take 90 days, with workers operating in “shallow” water depths up to nine metres.

It is a second major windfarm success for the region this week, after South Shields-based McNulty Offshore Construction Limited won the contract to construct an offshore substation for the world’s largest offshore wind farm, Greater Gabbard, 16 miles off the Suffolk coast.

CTC managing director Daryl Lynch said: “This contract shows CTC’s ability to apply our extensive subsea experience in the oil and gas industry to the offshore wind farm market, and highlights the breadth of services and technology that CTC can offer.

“This contract award shows the strength of our subsea services and subsea protection business.”

Despite it being the company’s first windfarm project, CTC already has a successful track record working for EON.

Mr Lynch said: “Without the talented team that makes up our organisation, it would be impossible to deliver strong performance, which gives us the edge over our competition. At CTC, it is the subsea experience, skills and professionalism of our people that made us the obvious contractor choice for this offshore wind farm project.”

The Robin Rigg development comprises 60 wind turbines supplying power via two export cables.

CTC will perform the lay and installation of 98mm and 113mm diameter array cables.

Workers will have to operate in challenging conditions due to the tides, strong currents, and the unpredictable weather.

The company also has adhere to a strict deadline, due to other contractors needing to follow CTC’s operations in the field.

The Greater Gabbard development, which includes 140 wind turbines, will generate enough electricity to power more than 415,000 homes.

Siemens Energy has awarded the contract for the platform-based substation to McNulty, which specialises in offshore fabrication for the oil and gas industry.

Steve Keyworth, McNulty Offshore Construction’s managing director, said: “The project with Siemens marks a new era for our business, opening up huge opportunities in the renewable energy and nuclear industries globally, securing jobs in the region now and providing new job opportunities as the renewable energy sector evolves in the future.”