James Fisher Completes Subsea Cable Deployment at MeyGen

James Fisher has deployed subsea export cables as part of the initial construction phase (Phase 1A) in support of MeyGen Limited’s (MeyGen) 398MW tidal array, at Pentland Firth, Scotland.

Utilizing specialist in-house expertise from a number of group companies, the integrated solution delivered significant cost benefits and operational efficiencies to MeyGen, through the combination of innovative products and services exclusive to James Fisher, the company said.

Tim Cornelius, CEO of the Atlantis group – majority owner of MeyGen, said, “This is an excellent result for the project. By its very nature the offshore site is a challenging tidal environment, and to complete the installation campaign safely and in line with the program is a commendable achievement by our onshore and offshore teams, aided by great performance from the vessel.  After all the planning it is very rewarding to see the offshore infrastructure taking shape for this trail-blazing project.”

Principle contractor James Fisher Marine Services (JFMS) acted as the project interface for the installation of four subsea cables at the MeyGen tidal energy project with Mojo Maritime (Mojo), marine management specialists, acting as the project lead that coordinated all offshore activities during operations.

Mojo was able to apply its marine project planning system, Mermaid, which precisely simulates marine operations against historical tidal data, to optimize critical project operations and reduce costs. A short neap window was identified and to achieve it, the vessel would have to lay one cable every 12 hours. While ambitious, this schedule was achieved and the offshore operation took just 2.5 days.

Mobilization was very compressed and required extensive input from all involved to mobilize an entire cable spread in four days. The Siem Daya 1 DP vessel was carefully selected on its capabilities, as Mojo understood that securely positioning the vessel within the extreme tidal conditions would be a critical factor in achieving success.


Further James Fisher group company involvement included; James Fisher Subsea heading up the diving services and mobilization of a full dive spread, James Fisher Offshore supplying marine equipment and Fendercare Marine providing mooring systems.