Contractors will erect 91 wind turbines in the Greater Wash area, approximately 17 miles off Blakeney Point. The array of Siemens 6MW turbines will cover an area of approximately 29 square miles.
Export cables for Race Bank will come to shore east of the mouth of the River Nene and 3.7 miles north-northeast of Sutton Bridge. The cables will run south to the connection point at the existing Walpole substation. The length of the onshore section of cable is 6.8 miles.
Dong Energy acquired the project from Centrica in December 2013. Race Bank will have a capacity of up to approximately 580MW and is expected to be fully commissioned in 2018. The wind farm will be constructed and operated under the renewables obligation certificate subsidy scheme.
Dong Energy executive vice president Samuel Leupold said: “'I'm very excited about the fact that we can start building the Race Bank offshore wind farm, which will supply green electricity to more than 400,000 British households. The Race Bank offshore wind farm is yet another enabler for the growth of the offshore wind supply chain in UK, and the project will create jobs in the UK at all levels of the supply chain.”
.png)
He added: “The size of this project will enable us to utilize the economies of scale to continue to drive down cost of electricity produced by offshore wind farms. This is a must win battle and we are getting one step closer with the decision to build this offshore wind farm.”
Dong Energy has invested £5bn in the UK offshore wind energy market since 2005. When all projects currently under construction, including Race Bank, are completed, it will have built a total of 2,500MW in the UK.
Dong Energy has also produced a time-lapse video, below, of turbine erection at its Westermost Rough offshore wind farm, off the coast of Lincolnshire.
Got a story? Email news@theconstructionindex.co.uk
