Work Starts on Kentish Flats Offshore Extension

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Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland) - Work will start this week on the €207 million ($264 million) extension to the Kentish Flats offshore windfarm in the U.K.

Owner Vattenfall AB (Stockholm, Sweden), a Swedish energy utility, confirmed that preparatory work is set to begin next summer for the rollout of 15 turbines. The turbines will add 49.5 megawatts (MW) of capacity to the existing 90 MW windfarm, which lies approximately 8.5-13 kilometres (km) north of Herne Bay and Whitstable in Kent.

The first task will to prepare the sea bed for 30 kilometers (km) of cable between turbines at the extension site and from the windfarm to the shore. Work to lay electricity cables from the shore at Hampton Pier to Red House Farm Substation in Herne Bay is scheduled to start in late November this year. The Kentish Flats extension will be capable of generating enough power for approximately 35,000 households. Overall, the Kentish Flats windfarm will be able to generate enough power for more than 90,000 homes.

The extension is good news for the U.K. offshore sector, which is going through a rocky patch. Last week, German power company RWE AG (FWB:RWE) (Essen, Germany) scrapped plans for the proposed 340-MW Galloper offshore windfarm, off the Suffolk coast in England, blaming what it called "unacceptable risk." For additional information, see October 15, 2014, article - Galloper Offshore Windfarm Cancelled.

"The Kentish Flats extension was consented in spring 2013 and since then we have been planning, organising and contracting," explained Matthew Green, Vattenfall's Project Director for the construction of the extension. "We're now ready to go, and by this time next year we plan to be generating low-carbon power from all 15 wind turbines. Building an offshore windfarm is no easy task; that is why it is one of the most exciting engineering challenges around today."

This week, offshore electrical contractor Bohlen & Doyen will use an underwater jetting tool to create the trenches in the sea bed. In May 2015, cable laying will commence. Next Spring, Vattenfall will start foundations work approximately seven kilometres offshore. Later in July, the delivery and erection of the 139.6 metre high wind turbines will be completed. First power is expected by late summer.

Vattenfall got the go-ahead from the U.K. Department of Energy and Climate Change in February 2013. For additional information, see February 27, 2013, article - U.K. Approves Kentish Flats Offshore Extension.

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