East Anglia ONE remains on schedule
Charlie Jordan, East Anglia ONE Project Director for ScottishPower Renewables (SPR), gave an update on the construction of the East Anglia ONEoffshore wind farm at the Southern North Sea Conference & Exhibition today (16 May 2019). Located in the North Sea, about 34 kilometres off the coast of Suffolk, the project is expected to meet the energy demands of 500,000 British households annually.
Offshore construction is underway at the site, with 50 jacket foundations installed to date. The last five foundations for the project have been fabricated in Belfast and are in the process of being loaded out. Although the project has suffered with challenges with foundation fabrications, SPR maintains that the project will be completed according to schedule.
The turbines are being pre-assembled in the Outer Harbour the Peel Ports operated Great Yarmouth port. Installation is scheduled to start in June. Turbine installation competition and commissioning is currently slated for spring 2020.
Cable installation works are also underway at the site, with 20% array cables installed. The 66 kV cable was delivered by JDR cables from its facility in Hartlepool with cable protections systems being supplied by Tekmar Energy. Boskalis is installing the cable using cable lay vessel Ndurance. Export cable works are on-going with preparations being completed for the second cable to be installed.
With regards to onshore construction, SPR revealed that the onshore substation in Burstall, near Bramford will be energised in coming weeks. The substation building is now complete, with commissioning activities and testing underway.
SPR’s 741 MW East Anglia ONE offshore wind farm is scheduled to be fully commissioned in 2020 and feature 102 Siemens Gamesa SWT-7.0-154 wind turbines. A new base is currently under construction in Lowestoft and will support operations and maintenance of the project. The £2.5bn wind farm is the first of four projects ScottishPower Renewables is developing in the East Anglia region to begin construction.
SPR has planning consent for the East Anglia THREE wind farm which is to have a capacity up to 1,200 MW. It is located in the northern half of our zone and covers an area of approximately 305km2. It anticipates that the array will consist of 172 turbines between 7-12 MW in capacity and reach financial close next year.
The company is also in the process of planning consultations on two other offshore wind farms in the East Anglia zone. If consents are granted, it is anticipated that East Anglia TWO will commence construction in 2024 and East Anglia ONE North will commence construction in 2025.