German energy company RWE has informed that it has completed the installation of all 90 turbine foundations and two 50-kilometer long export cables connecting offshore and onshore electrical systems at its Triton Knoll offshore wind farm site, 32km off the coast of Lincolnshire in the UK North Sea.
"The successful installation was achieved during one of the project’s most challenging times due to the impact of Covid-19, and has been completed within the planned summer delivery window," RWE said. To remind, the first foundation was installed back in January.
The commercial operation start-up date of the offshore wind farm is expected in the first quarter of 2022.
Triton Knoll wind farm will have an installed capacity of 857megawatts, capable of supplying electricity equivalent to the annual demand of over 800,000 UK homes.
Seaway Strashnov vessel prepares for the final installation - Credit: RWE
The offshore wind farm is jointly owned by RWE (59%), J-Power (25%), and Kansai Electric Power (16%), with RWE leading the wind farm’s construction and long-term operation and maintenance works, on behalf of the project partners. The total planned investment volume amounts to approximately £2 billion.
Triton Knoll was awarded a Contract for Difference (CfD) by the UK Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy in September 2017.
A Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with Ørsted, under which the company will offtake 100% of the power produced by the wind farm, complements Triton Knoll’s CfD, mitigating any market price uncertainty for the first 15 years of the wind farm’s operation, RWE said.
RWE, one of the world's largest offshore wind players, has nine wind farms in operation in the UK offshore wind sector. The company is also working to develop the 1.4 GW Sofia offshore wind farm, which will be one of the biggest offshore wind farms in the world, once completed.
Commenting on the Triton Knoll milestone, Tom Glover, RWE Renewables Chief Commercial Officer and RWE UK Country Chair said: “The UK is one of the most important markets for RWE, where we have significant growth ambitions in offshore wind. Following in the footsteps of Triton Knoll will be our 1.4 GW Sofia offshore wind farm, which has a potential investment value of around £3 billion. We are also looking forward to developing a number of extension projects to our existing UK offshore wind farms, in connection with opportunities arising from The Crown Estate’s latest leasing round.”
Watch the recording of World Energy Report's Offshore Wind Webinar "Outlook for Offshore Wind Power: The Frontier of Future Energy."
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