UK: DONG to Build Westermost Rough Offshore Wind Farm

DONG Energy has decided to build the offshore wind farm Westermost Rough in the North Sea on the British east coast. The construction will represent a total investment of approximately EUR 1 billion including the construction of the transmission assets.

When the wind farm goes into operation, the transmission assets will be sold to an offshore transmission operator, as required by UK regulation.

Westermost Rough will consist of 35 turbines from Siemens Wind Power, each of 6.0 megawatt, with a total capacity of 210 megawatt. It will be able to supply CO2-free power corresponding to the annual power consumption of almost 210,000 British households.

“With the decision to build Westermost Rough, we expand our position as world leading in the development, construction and maintaining of offshore wind farms,” said Henrik Poulsen, CEO of DONG Energy.

Siemens 6.0 MW turbine has just been erected at our demonstration site Gunfleet Sands 3 and has already been tested at Test Centre Østerild and Test Centre Høvsøre in Denmark.

“The size and location of the project is very well suited as the first large scale project with the new Siemens 6 megawatt turbine. We are sure that this project is a good foundation in our continuous work to bring down the cost of offshore wind,” said Henrik Poulsen and continued: “The UK offshore wind market is the biggest in the world and we are confident that the UK market will continue to be a very interesting market to the offshore wind industry.”

Benj Sykes, DONG Energy Wind Power UK Country Manager, said:

“We are very excited to go ahead with our next offshore wind farm at Westermost Rough. This is the first project that we have brought forward to construction in the North-East and we are looking forward to working in the area during construction and over the 20 years during the operational life of the wind farm.”

“We are excited about the potential of this new technology and deploying the 6MW turbine on this scale. We are committed to reducing the cost of energy through the deployment of new technologies, and Westermost Rough will provide a tangible example of how we are doing just that,” continued Benj Sykes.

Secretary of State Edward Davey said:

“This offshore wind farm will feature cutting-edge turbine technology and will bring further jobs and investment to the East coast, whilst also generating enough clean energy to power 200,000 homes. This confirms the UK’s position as being one of the best places in the world to invest in offshore wind.”

The Westermost Rough offshore wind farm will be situated 8 km off the Yorkshire Coast, east of Hull.

Offshore construction of the Westermost Rough offshore wind farm will begin in first half of 2014 and the farm is expected to be fully commissioned in the first half of 2015.

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Press release, January 30, 2013; Image: DONG Energy