Roxtec seals in world’s largest offshore wind farm

Roxtec seals are used in the world’s first 1GW wind farm – the London Array scheme in the Thames Estuary. Once complete, the project will supply enough power for around 750,000 homes – or a quarter of Greater London homes – and displace the emission of 1.9m tons of CO2 every year.

Working with Siemens on two substations, which will manage the power distribution from the wind farm, Roxtec developed a bespoke fire and ingress seal for multiple high voltage cables at the point they enter the floor or deck. To meet the demands of the harsh offshore environment, Roxtec conducted tests in its in-house facility to ensure that the products were certified safe for use.

According to Siemens’ offshore project manager Richard Horan, Roxtec’s approach took a lot of pain out of the project:
“We were really impressed by Roxtec. In reality we bought a product – but what we also got was many weeks of engineering time too. This was invaluable. We brought them in at an early stage because they had a ‘can do’ attitude to the challenge of sealing cables on the bottom deck.”

Mr Horan says that Roxtec remained “incredibly flexible” through-out the design and build process:
“The specification changed a number of times and instead of complaining they adapted. Again this reflected their ‘can do’, helpful approach. They really know what they are doing.”

Roxtec safety seals are also used in the wind turbines themselves – in the generator system, the switch room, the converter, the tower, the nacelle, the transition pieces and the control cabinets.