On behalf of its client Van Oord, subsea technology company Seatools completed the delivery of a CT umbilical winch. The winch will power Van Oord’s new subsea trencher “Deep Dig It,” which will be deployed during cable installation operations at an offshore wind farm later this year.

The plug-and-play umbilical winch stands out in its ability to transfer exceptionally large amounts of power and data: a total of 1800 kW of power at a voltage rating of 4100 VAC. To guarantee uninterrupted operations across a wide variety of (environmental) conditions, during the engineering phase much effort was invested in heat management. Moreover, the winch comes with a 20 feet container footprint and features integrated load measurement.

Charged with power and data transfer between the cable lay vessel and the subsea trencher, an umbilical winch plays a crucial role in the availability of the subsea trenching spread as a whole. This inevitable single point of failure and the exceptionally high voltage and power needs beg industry-leading knowledge and capabilities in the development, realization, and test phases of this mission-critical CT winch.

Seatools was found to be the most suitable partner for the successful execution of this project. Several decades of experience in the infrastructure of mission-critical subsea equipment alongside vast knowledge and field-proven competences in high-voltage electrical engineering, slip ring units, umbilicals, and control engineering – it all amounted to Van Oord’s choice to award Seatools with the contract.

During the engineering, realization, and test phases of the project, Van Oord and Seatools closely collaborated – an expression of the high value that Seatools places on partnerships with its clients. Van Oord’s strong involvement allowed for the incorporation of the company’s specific domain knowledge and preferences. From it results the confidence that the end product will operate to the client’s full satisfaction.