Towering achievement as last turbine lowered into place on North Sea wind farm
The tower of the final turbine being installed on East Anglia ONE Picture: SIEMENS GAMESA - Credit: Archant
The final turbine to complete a wind farm off the East Anglian coast has been installed.
Final turbine is installed on East Anglia ONE Picture: SIEMENS GAMESA - Credit: Archant
Since June 2019, a total of 102 turbines have been built at the East Anglia ONE offshore wind farm, which lies 43km off the Suffolk coast.
Once fully operational, the ScottishPower Renewables and Macquarie’s Green Investment Group (GIG) £2.5bn installation will produce 714 megawatts of clean energy a year – enough to power more than 630,000 homes.
MORE – Farm flooded with applications from UK workers wanting to pick fruitAll the turbines’ components were pre-assembled and loaded out from Peel Ports in Great Yarmouth after ScottishPower Renewables co-invested £5m in it so that it could carry out the construction work.
The turbine components consist of 75 metre fibre glass blades, tower sections and turbine heads, known as nacelles.
Preparation for installation on East Anglia ONE Picture: SIEMENS GAMESA - Credit: Archant
These have been on view along the Great Yarmouth seafront and skyline as the 90 metre-high towers were pieced together on the quayside.
Each of the 306 turbine blades were manufactured by Siemens Gamesa at its specially-built factory in Hull, and some of the towers were made in Machrihanish in Scotland by CSWind UK.
Local companies supporting the work at Great Yarmouth included Lowestoft-based Delpro Wind and CLS Global Solutions, based in the town.
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Installation of the 102 Siemens Gamesa SWT-7.0-154 turbines was undertaken by Siemens Gamesa using Sea Installer and Sea Challenger vessels operated by DEME.
Charlie Jordan, East Anglia ONE project director at ScottishPower Renewables, said the installation of all the turbines was “a tremendous achievement”.
“It brings us another step closer to completion when the wind farm will be producing the clean, renewable energy the UK needs to decarbonise and meet its pledge to reach net-zero by 2050.
“This project is testament to the leading role East Anglia is playing in offshore wind and is delivering tangible benefits for its people, businesses and communities – including the creation of more than 800 jobs and spending over £70m with companies across the region.”
Work continued during the coronavirus lockdown as a safe and secure supply of energy was considered critical, he explained.
“The full range of people and organisations involved deserve huge credit for the work they have put into making sure it remained on track through such challenging conditions – they are a credit to the industry.”
East Anglia ONE is the first of four offshore wind farms ScottishPower Renewables is developing in the region.
