Final Turbine in at 400-Megawatt Rampion Offshore Windfarm in U.K.

Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland)--The last of 116 turbines has been installed at the Rampion offshore windfarm in the U.K., one of the largest European wind projects under construction.

The milestone comes six months after the first V112 3.45-megawatt (MW) turbine from MHI Vestas Wind Systems A/S (OMX:VWS) (Aarhus, Denmark) was installed at the project, located 13 kilometres (km) off the Sussex coast in England. Spread across a 72-square-kilometre zone, the Rampion windfarm has cost an estimated £1.6 billion ($2 billion) for developer E.ON (XETRA:EOAN) (Düsseldorf, Germany) and will have a total generating capacity of 400 MW when commissioned in June 2018, capable of powering approximately 300,000 homes.

Two jack-up vessels--the MPI Discovery and MPI Adventure--have worked non-stop transporting the components for eight turbines at a time from Esbjerg in Denmark to the site. Each turbine consists of an 80-metre tower, weighing approximately 200 tonnes, which the vessels installed on each foundation followed by the installation of the nacelles with three 55-metre blades.

"We're especially proud to have achieved this remarkable feat, installing all 116 turbines ahead of schedule in just over six months," said Chris Tomlinson, development and stakeholder manager for the Rampion offshore windfarm. "This major milestone sees the safe installation of all physical components visible above sea level, representing the full extent of the windfarm. We now look forward to Rampion's first generation of electricity later this year and to working towards completion and full operation in 2018."

Industrial Info has been tracking the development and commissioning of a number of U.K. offshore wind projects this year. Last month, the first of 87 turbines was installed and started generating power at the massive 659-MW Walney Extension offshore windfarm, and in February the first 6-MW turbine was installed and produced power at the 402-MW Dudgeon offshore windfarm. For additional information, see September 14, 2017, article - First Power Produced at Giant U.K. Walney Extension Offshore Windfarm and February 22, 2017, article First Power at U.K.'s Dudgeon Offshore Windfarm.

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