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http://scitechnews.co.uk/wind-wave-tidal/final-grimsby-built-turbine-installed-at-wind-farm/

Final Grimsby-built turbine installed at wind farm

THE team behind the Westermost Rough offshore wind farm are celebrating the successful installation of the final turbine.

The last of the 35 installations on the farm, built by engineers out of Grimsby, was lifted into position by the specialist jack-up vessel on Friday.

Located off the East Yorkshire coast, it is the first offshore wind farm to make commercial use of the Siemens six megawatt (MW) wind turbine.

Duncan Clark, programme director for Westermost Rough at Dong Energy, said: “This is a significant milestone for the project in which all the partners involved are breaking new ground for the industry by offshore deployment of 6MW turbines. It is also an important step in reducing the cost of energy from offshore wind.

“More than 900 people have been employed on the offshore construction programme, and reaching installation of the final turbine with high levels of safety performance is a credit to their great teamwork.

“Our focus is now fully directed to safely finishing the commissioning work on the rest of the turbines, ensuring that they are all delivering clean, green energy to the UK grid this summer.”

Turbine installation has been carried out using the new purpose-built vessel Sea Challenger which is owned by A2Sea. Siemens is supplying and commissioning the turbines, and will build future models on the Humber, in Hull.

Construction of the wind farm is being managed from Dong Energy’s office in Port of Grimsby East, by a team of around 50 people. A permanent home for the wind farm’s operations and maintenance team has also been built at the Royal Dock in Grimsby, just yards from the base of Grimsby’s iconic Dock Tower.

When fully operational, Westermost Rough will be capable of generating up to 210 MW of electricity – enough capacity to meet the annual electricity demands of more than 150,000 UK homes.

Work stepped up in August 2013 with the arrival of the 950sq m office facility in Grimsby, with the first foundation installed in February 2014. By late May, all 35 were in place, with offshore substation in June and first turbine in August. In December it was revealed it will be the first UK farm to be serviced by helicopters as well as vessels, and last month a radar system to boost efficiencies and maximise returns from the wind was outlined.

In total it represents an £11 million capital investment in Grimsby, and during the course of the build-out larger-scale projects Hornsea and Race Bank have been brought forward by the Danish wind giant.

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