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West of Duddon Sands offshore wind farm opens in the Irish Sea
Offshore wind terminal at Belfast Harbour supports operation of the 389 MW facility.
Full power output has been achieved two months ahead of schedule from the 389 MW West of Duddon Sands Offshore Wind farm, which has been developed by DONG Energy and ScottishPower Renewables in the Irish Sea. Located approximately 20 km off the Barrow-in-Furness coastline in North West England, engineers have installed and commissioned the 108 turbines and foundations in record time.
Up to 1,000 people were employed on the project, which has also seen more than 200 km of undersea cables installed. The total area covered by the wind farm is 67 km², and each individual Siemens turbine has a capacity of 3.6 MW.
West of Duddon Sands has led the renewable energy industry in efforts to reduce the cost of offshore wind, says DONG Energy. One of the biggest benefits has been the new £50mn offshore wind terminal at Belfast Harbour, the first purpose-built offshore wind installation and pre-assembly harbour in the UK and Ireland, which supports up to 300 jobs ranging from welders to electricians and engineers. The size and scale of the harbour has allowed for continual delivery of turbine components, and round-the-clock operations
The project also benefitted from using two of the world’s largest and most advanced installation vessels, says DONG, which allowed work to continue offshore during one of the worst winters for storm force winds in recent history. Working in tandem, the Pacific Orca and the Sea Installer vessels were used to install all of the foundations and the turbine components. The Pacific Orca is the world’s largest wind farm installation vessel with a length of 161 metres.
The electricity generated initially connects in to an offshore substation, where the voltage from the turbines is increased and two export cables then take the electricity ashore to the onshore substation at Heysham, where the wind farm is connected to the UK national grid. The operations and maintenance base for the wind farm is a newly-constructed facility in Barrow.
Meanwhile, DONG Energy’s proposed Walney Extension offshore wind farm, also in the Irish Sea, has been given consent from the government to go ahead. If built it would triple the size of Walney Offshore wind farm, already one of the biggest in the world at 367 MW. The decision allows developer DONG Energy to make a final investment decision on the project.
Last, and moving onshore, a proposed 27-turbine wind farm near New Cumnock in East Ayrshire has been granted consent by the Scottish government. Once complete, the wind farm will have a maximum generating capacity of around 74 MW.
