IN Brief:
- CRP Subsea has secured a cable protection contract for ScottishPower Renewables’ East Anglia Two offshore wind farm.
- The scope covers 142 NjordGuard systems for inter-array cable terminations at offshore turbine foundations.
- Offshore wind delivery is increasing demand for subsea cable protection, installation reliability, and export infrastructure resilience.
CRP Subsea has secured a contract from Seaway7 to supply cable protection systems for ScottishPower Renewables’ East Anglia Two offshore wind farm in the North Sea.
The contract covers 142 NjordGuard systems for inter-array cable terminations at turbine foundations. The systems are designed to protect subsea power cables against over-bending, abrasion, and fatigue during installation and throughout operational life.
East Anglia Two is planned as a 960MW offshore wind farm around 32km off the Suffolk coast and 46km from Lowestoft. The project area covers approximately 218 sq km and is expected to include up to 64 wind turbines as part of ScottishPower Renewables’ wider East Anglia offshore development zone.
CRP Subsea will produce three NjordGuard designs for monopile and J-tube interfaces. Engineering work is starting immediately, while final delivery is scheduled for February 2027. Manufacturing will take place at the company’s facility in the North West of England.
Inter-array cables are among the most critical electrical assets in an offshore wind farm. They connect turbines within the array and carry power towards offshore substations or export systems. Damage at cable interfaces can create expensive repair campaigns, prolonged outages, and availability losses that are difficult to recover once a project is operational.
As offshore wind farms move further from shore and increase in capacity, subsea cable engineering is carrying more operational weight. Larger turbine ratings, deeper or more complex seabed environments, tighter installation windows, and higher project capital costs all increase the value of reliable cable protection at known stress points.
East Anglia Two enters a delivery environment in which offshore transmission and cable capacity are already under pressure. The delayed decision on the Morgan and Morecambe transmission assets and Boskalis’ order for a 24,000-tonne cable-lay vessel both underline the same issue: offshore wind delivery depends on the availability of specialist cable systems, installation vessels, grid interfaces, and supply-chain capacity. Read more: Morgan and Morecambe transmission decision delayed and Boskalis orders 24,000-tonne cable-lay vessel.
The CRP Subsea award also keeps part of the offshore wind component supply chain in UK manufacturing. Cable protection sits within a broader industrial system that includes polymer engineering, subsea design, marine logistics, cable installation, foundation interfaces, and long-term operations support.
Component-level reliability can have project-level consequences. Offshore cable faults are difficult to repair because they depend on specialist vessels, weather windows, fault location, seabed conditions, replacement materials, and access to installed infrastructure. Preventing mechanical stress around terminations and interfaces is therefore a practical part of lifecycle risk management.
The offshore wind sector has often focused attention on turbine size, auction pricing, and generation capacity, but the reliability of electrical balance-of-plant assets is just as decisive for project performance. Cables, substations, export systems, protection systems, and grid connection assets determine whether installed turbines can deliver their expected output over time.
East Anglia Two will contribute to the UK’s offshore wind buildout if it progresses through construction and grid connection as planned. Its cable protection package is a relatively specialised workstream, but it sits inside the larger engineering challenge of turning offshore renewable capacity into reliable, grid-connected electricity generation.
