NI contractor FP McCann is helping to deliver a new £25 million onshore substation in north Lincolnshire as part of a major wind farm project.

The 174-turbine Hornsea Project One is being built 120km off the Yorkshire coast and will be able to power up to one million homes across the UK once finished in 2020.

As part of the scheme, FP McCann has played a key role in supplying both the precast concrete fire protection walls and the power cable troughs at the substation, which are designed to house the network of electrical and communication cables running through the site.

The substation contract was awarded to Balfour Beatty in 2015 with work commencing early 2016. All electrical components on site will be tested and commissioned over the next few months, while Danish power company Ørsted introducing power later this year.

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A total of five precast concrete fire walls have been built all over 11-metres high and formed using FP McCann's columns and special wall panels, cast at the company's Lydney facility in Gloucestershire. In addition, FP McCann's Littleport facility in Cambridgeshire supplied 675 metres of precast power and communication cable troughs, which run throughout the North Killingholme site below ground level.

Commenting on the installation of both the fire protection walls and cable troughs, Liam Kelly sub agent for Balfour Beatty, said: "FP McCann delivered both the wall units and cable troughs on a just-in-time schedule to meet our tight construction programme. Installation was a speedy and simple process and using off-site manufactured precast concrete products significantly reduces the amount of formwork and wet concrete trades on site."

The final stage of works at the substation will consist of installing fencing and roads. Once completed and with the latest technology and security features, the substation will be almost entirely unmanned.

(LM/MH)