Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy has contracted wind-turbine installation and service company Global Wind Service to assemble 102 towers for East Anglia ONE Offshore Wind Farm in the U.K. The towers will be assembled at the Norfolk port of Great Yarmouth, only half an hour drive from GWS’ office in Lowestoft, ahead of their load-out and installation offshore as part of the wind-farm construction.
The pre-assembly work of the SWT-7.0-154 turbines is scheduled to commence at site mid-March 2019 and expected to run for a year. For the 66kV high voltage scope, GWS will be drawing on the specialized HV-technicians from GWS’ joint venture Delpro Wind.
East Anglia ONE is in the Southern North Sea, approximately 43 kilometers off the Suffolk coast. Once in full operation in 2020, the installed power capacity of 714 MW will be supplying green energy to about 600,000 British households. As such, it will be one of the largest offshore wind-power plants in the world built on an investment of about 3 billion euros.
East Anglia ONE will be the first wind farm project to use 66kV cables on a commercial scale. This higher rating is expected to be the dominating technology for future offshore projects in an effort to reduce the loss of energy during transmission.
“Global Wind Service is very pleased to be part of this world-leading project together with our strong partner through 10 years, Siemens Gamesa,” said Michael Høj Olsen, chief commercial officer at GWS. “We have been present in the U.K. for over nine years now, so this is a great way for us to underline our strong and continuous commitment to the country’s offshore wind market. A long-term project like East Anglia ONE is supporting GWS’ strategy to continue our growth globally and in the U.K. where it will also create more local jobs, which is great for the UK wind industry.”
“For a ground-breaking project like East Anglia ONE, it was important to choose a supplier with solid experience and expertise as well as proven quality and safety record,” said Andrew Elmes, senior project manager for SGRE. “With GWS’ in-house high-voltage competences in Delpro Wind, along with over nine years of local presence in the U.K. market, we have selected a strong partner for this project, and we are happy to continue our long-term cooperation with GWS.”
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