This 714 megawatt wind energy megacomplex will be fully operational by mid 2020. Iberdrola has begun the final phase of construction of the East Anglia One offshore wind farm, located in English waters of the North Sea, with the installation since this weekend of the first units of the total of 102 wind turbines of 7 megawatts (MW) supplied by Siemens Gamesa.
This
was explained by the director of the offshore wind energy project of
Iberdrola in Saint Brieuc (France) and one of the pioneers in the
promotion of this type of installations in the company, Rafael Vara,
during a visit to the works of East Anglia, the largest initiative of a
Spanish company in the history of renewables, with a record investment
of more than 2,500 million pounds (about 2,800 million euros).
With
an estimated power of 714 MW, East Anglia One is located about 50
kilometers off the coast of Suffolk (United Kingdom) and covers an area
of ??300 square kilometers, which is equivalent to 40,000 football
fields. In fact, this park will become, when fully operational by
mid-2020, the second largest offshore wind farm in the world and
generate clean energy to supply more than 630,000 British homes.
Vara
indicated that the installation process of the wind turbines will be
carried out at a rate of four every 10 days, through boat trips, which
will allow this process to be completed in April 2020. Once they are
installed, the wind turbines will start to produce electricity.
Iberdrola
has already installed all the piles (the bottom of the foundations that
are placed on the sea floor to form a secure base) of this
infrastructure and a large part of the jackets (platform where the wind
turbines are installed) and has the substation marina Andalucía II in
the final phase of installation and commissioning.
The
construction of this great initiative is boosting the offshore wind
industry in Europe, giving employment to more than 1,300 people in
several countries and being key for several sectors, such as the naval
sector. In Spain, Iberdrola, in addition to Siemens Gamesa, has had the
participation of local companies such as Navantia or Windar.
Siemens
Gamesa is building the 306 blades for the wind turbines at its Green
Port Hull facilities, for which it is requiring a team of 850 people.
They are made of fiberglass and measure 75 meters long, similar to the
wingspan of the giant Airbus A380 aircraft.
The public shipyard
was in charge of the construction of the substation, the ‘Andalucía II’,
manufactured by Navantia in Puerto Real (Cádiz). It is the largest
marine substation in alternating current built in the world, and
includes design innovations developed by Iberdrola to make it more
compact, reducing its weight to 3,900 tons, which facilitates its
installation to ships.
The substation began its journey from
Puerto Real to English waters in August 2018, where it was installed at
the end of that month, and is being activated at this time.
In
addition, of the 102 jacket-type foundations, Navantia manufactured 42
in Fene (Spain) and Windar built the piles in Avilés (Asturias). The
other 60 foundations were manufactured by Lamprell in the United Arab
Emirates and Harland & Wolff in Belfast.
The installation of
the foundations of the project has been carried out from the Dutch port
of Vlissingen, while the components of the wind turbines are being
previously assembled in the British port of Great Yarmouth.
On
the other hand, the Port of Lowestoft will be the base of the operation
and maintenance center during the more than 30 years of operational life
expected for East Anglia One. When the wind farm comes into operation,
more than 100 people will be employed full time in the port.
This
new offshore wind farm is part of an even more ambitious project.
Iberdrola, through its British subsidiary ScottishPower Renewables, is
also developing three other wind farms in the vicinity of East Anglia
One, which are in various stages of progress: East Anglia ONE North (up
to 800 MW), East Anglia TWO (with a capacity of up to 900 MW) and East
Anglia THREE (with a capacity of up to 1,200 MW).
BET FOR THE MARINE WIND POWER
Currently,
Iberdrola already has two facilities in operation: on the one hand, the
West of Duddon Sands park. Launched in 2014 in the North Sea, it became
the first plant of its kind to be promoted by a Spanish company. On the
other hand, the Wikinger park, in German waters of the Baltic Sea and
in operation since December 2017.
But Iberdrola’s pioneering and
determined commitment to offshore wind generation will be consolidated
in the coming years, thanks to a portfolio of projects using this
technology that reaches 12.4 gigawatts (GW).
