With the first offshore wind turbines successfully installed, power at DONG Energy‘s Burbo Bank Extension is now being exported to the national grid. This is the first time the next-generation MHI Vestas 8-MW wind turbines have been used commercially offshore. The successful energization is an important step in the project.
Construction of Burbo Bank Extension, located 7-km off Liverpool Bay, is being managed from DONG Energy’s facilities at Cammell Laird Shipyard site in Birkenhead by a team of around 90 people.
Claus Bøjle Møller, Burbo Bank Extension Program Director, said: “First power is a key milestone for us because it proves that every part of the transmission and generation equipment is successfully working. We’re progressing well with the construction of the wind farm thanks to a huge effort from our construction team and our contractors.”
Over the coming weeks, the first wind turbines will be generating more and more clean, green electricity into the UK grid. Once all 32 turbines are in place (expected in the first quarter of 2017), the wind farm will be capable of generating up to 258 MW of electricity
“This first milestone is significant for the offshore wind industry at a broader scale,” added Møller. “Using these bigger turbines is a major step in reducing the cost of energy from offshore wind, and we are proud to once again introduce a step-change in technology.”
Burbo Bank Offshore Wind Farm was initially inaugurated in 2007, and was the first to use the 3.6-MW wind turbines now used widely across the industry. With the Extension project, the combined wind farms will produce enough power every year for almost a third of a million average UK homes, over one and a half times the size of the Wirral.
Work is also currently underway on a multi-million pound state-of–the-art operations and maintenance facility in King’s Wharf, Seacombe, to serve the two DONG Energy wind farms in the area.
Filed Under: News, Offshore wind, Projects, Turbines
