New U.K. Offshore Windfarm Opens

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Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland) - An offshore windfarm capable of supplying enough power for approximately 280,000 homes has been fully commissioned off the north west coast of England.

The official opening of the West of Duddon Sands windfarm was celebrated by 50/50 joint project owners, Denmark's Dong Energy A/S (Fredericia, Denmark) and ScottishPower Renewables (SPR) (Glasgow, Scotland), part of Spanish energy giant, Iberdrola SA (MCE:IBE) (Bilbao, Spain).

Located approximately 20 kilometres (km) off the Barrow-in-Furness coastline in north west England, the windfarm features 108 turbines spread across an areas of 67km². The turbines, supplied German engineering firm Siemens AG (NYSE:SI) (Munich, Germany), are rated at 3.6-megawatts (MW) each. Industrial Info reported on the installation of the first turbine just over a year ago. For additional information, see October 17, 2013, article - First Turbine For West of Duddon Sands.

Opening the windfarm, U.K. Energy and Climate Change Secretary, Edward Davey, said: "This windfarm will generate enough clean electricity to power more than a quarter of a million homes and give the local economy a major and sustained boost. We want an energy mix that is built on diverse, home-grown sources to make sure our supplies are clean and secure. Wind has a huge role to play, which is why the U.K. is the best place in the world to invest in offshore wind projects."

The project cost just over €2 billion ($2.5 billion) to construct and involved more than 1,000 people and the laying of over 200km of undersea cables.

Key to the project's swift delivery in some of the country's worst winter conditions last year was the use of two of the world's largest and most advanced installation vessels, the Pacific Orca and the Sea Installer. These were used to install all of the foundations and the turbine components.

Ignacio Galan, Chairman of ScottishPower and Iberdrola, commented: "West of Duddon Sands is the first offshore windfarm in the U.K. to use such highly advanced construction methods, allowing us to complete the project months ahead of schedule. In the past, the type of storm force winds that we experienced off the west coast of the U.K. last winter would have resulted in months of delays and cancelled operations. But working in tandem with two highly sophisticated installation vessels, all supported by the excellent facilities at Belfast, has seen one of the most efficient offshore projects ever delivered in the U.K.. The project has been a significant engineering challenge, with many obstacles to overcome, but ultimately it has been a major success".

The project benefitted from nearby support from DONG's new offshore wind terminal in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Last March, DONG took ownership of the U.K.'s first dedicated offshore wind terminal from Belfast Harbour (Belfast). The €58 million ($76 million) terminal is designed to boost DONG's rollout of Round 3 offshore windfarms in the U.K.. For additional information, see March 1, 2013, article - U.K. gets First Offshore Wind Terminal .

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