THE FIRST of 160 wind turbines has been installed at the flagship North Wales Gwynt y Môr Offshore Wind Farm, the largest renewables project under construction by RWE npower renewables.
It marks a major milestone in the construction of the €2billion windfarm which, once fully operational, will be capable of generating enough energy from the wind to power around a third the total number of households in Wales.
The 3.6 megawatt Siemens turbine was fitted more than eight miles of the North Wales coast in Liverpool Bay, using the SeaJack vessel yesterday (16 May, 2013).
Turbine installation is being carried out from the Port of Mostyn in Flintshire which has undergone extensive redevelopment to accommodate the new construction base. Through further multi-million pound investment, the port will also become the long term operations and maintenance base for the wind farm, creating over 100 new jobs, once Gwynt y Môr is completed in 2014.
RWE npower renewables’ Gwynt y Môr Project Director, Toby Edmonds said: “We’re very pleased to be able to mark such a significant milestone in the construction of our flagship Gwynt y Môr Offshore Wind Farm, the largest renewables project under construction in the RWE portfolio.
“Energy generation from our own domestic, limitless and renewable sources has been demonstrated to be of such importance to Wales and the UK’s future energy security, and Gwynt y Môr’s turbines will soon begin to make a significant contribution to that generation capacity.
“Each turbine consists of a tower in two sections, a nacelle, a hub and three blades and takes approximately 24 hours to install.
“SeaJack can carry three sets of components at a time and is scheduled to return to the Port of Mostyn every nine days to pick up more components.
“A second jack up vessel, SeaWorker will arrive on the project later in the summer and turbine installation is due to continue into 2014.”
At 576MW, Gwynt y Môr is one of the largest offshore wind farms currently in construction in Europe. It is a shared investment between partners RWE Innogy, Stadtwerke München GmbH and Siemens(2).
Once fully operational, energy generation from Gwynt y Môr is expected to be equivalent to the average annual needs of around 400,000 homes.
Siemens is manufacturing the Gwynt y Môr turbines at its factory in Brande in Denmark. Regular deliveries of components arrive into Port of Mostyn via Roll-on, Roll-off ferry.
Clark MacFarlane, managing director for Siemens Wind Power – Offshore in the UK said: “Gwynt y Môr represents a significant investment for Siemens in its UK wind energy portfolio consisting now of twelve offshore wind farms powered by Siemens technologies.
“As one of the major Round 2 installations Gwynt y Môr represents another step forward for the UK offshore industry. We are delighted that installation has now commenced and look forward to making significant progress over the coming months.”
Since work began in 2010, Gwynt y Môr Offshore Wind Farm Limited has awarded contracts worth more than £80million to companies in Wales.
RWE npower renewables has set up a project information line which people can call if they have a query about the construction of Gwynt y Môr.
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Press release, May 17, 2013; Image: rwe