ScottishPower Renewables and Macquarie’s Green Investment Group (GIG) said Wednesday that all of the 102 offshore wind turbines were installed on the East Anglia ONE offshore windfarm.
The installation began in June 2019, and now a total of 102 Siemens Gamesa SWT-7.0-154 offshore wind turbines are standing tall at the wind farm site, 43km off the Suffolk coast.
Installation was carried out by Siemens Gamesa using the Sea Installer and Sea Challenger vessels, operated by DEME.
All turbine components were pre-assembled and loaded out from Peel Ports Great Yarmouth, following ScottishPower Renewables’ £5 million co-investment in the port to prepare it for construction and marshalling activity.
Each of the 306 turbine blades were manufactured by Siemens Gamesa at its specially-built factory in Hull, England; while some of the towers were produced in Machrihanish, Scotland by CSWind UK. The work that took place at Peel Ports was supported by several local companies and personnel employed by Siemens Gamesa, including Lowestoft-based Delpro Wind and CLS Global Solutions, based in Great Yarmouth.
Once fully operational, the offshore wind farm will produce 714MW of electricity per year which is enough to power the equivalent of more than 630,000 homes.
Charlie Jordan, East Anglia ONE Project Director at ScottishPower Renewables, said: “Successful installation of all the turbines is a tremendous achievement for the East Anglia ONE project. It brings us another step closer to completion when the windfarm will be producing the clean, renewable energy the UK needs to decarbonize and meet its pledge to reach net-zero by 2050. This project is a 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 £70 million with companies across the region.
“With COVID-19 bringing much of the economy to a standstill and affecting everyone across the UK, ensuring we have a safe and secure supply of energy is critical to supporting our vital services. This is why the continuation of this project is deemed as essential work by the Government and ourselves. The full range of people and organizations 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.”