DONG Energy is set to officially open the Burbo Bank Extension offshore wind farm later today (17 May).
The inauguration ceremony will be held at Anfield Stadium in Liverpool.
The 258MW project located off the coast of Liverpool, UK represents the first offshore wind farm in the world to use 8MW turbines on a commercial scale. And the developer is already forecasting wind turbines of almost double the capacity to arise in the following several years.
“We’re already talking about the need to scale up the current turbine range to between 12GW to 15GW as part of the cost reduction journey. I think we will see that scale of turbine come in but we’re not sure from who, or when,” The Telegraph quotes Benj Sykes , DONG Energy’s UK country manager for wind power, as saying.
The offshore wind major already discussed the matter of offshore wind turbines of up to 15MW upon its recent winning at the latest German tender, which saw three offshore wind project bids not requiring subsidies, two placed by DONG and one by EnBW. As one of the factors contributing to its zero-subsidy bid, DONG Energy named the project realisation window to 2024, by which time the company expects turbines with capacity of between 13MW and 15MW to be available on the market.
At the UK Burbo Bank Extension, the last of 32 MHI Vestas 8MW turbines was installed in December 2016 , and the wind farm was fully commissioned this April .
The wind farm is a joint venture between DONG Energy (50%) and its partners PKA (25%) and KIRKBI A/S, the owner of LEGO Group (25%).
On our way to Anfield Stadium in Liverpool to celebrate the inauguration of Burbo Bank Extension. #mhivestas #DONGEnergy pic.twitter.com/n3Kf85PaXn
— MHI Vestas Offshore (@MHIVestas) May 17, 2017