Ormonde Offshore Wind Farm Generates First Electricity (UK)

Vattenfall yesterday evening generated the first electricity from its wind farm off Barrow-in-Furness with Barrow’s Mayor hailing the achievement as an endorsement of Cumbria’s low carbon energy strategy.

Vattenfall started offshore construction of the Ormonde Offshore Wind Farm in 2010 and a little over a year later has exported power to the National Grid for the first time at 7pm on Thursday, 18 August from turbine D1. When finished the 30-turbine, 150MW, wind farm should generate enough power every year to meet the equivalent electricity needs of around 100,000 UK households.

 David Hodkinson, Vattenfall’s Country Manager, said: “The first production of electricity from our 30-turbine Ormonde Offshore Wind Farm is a great achievement for our team and suppliers. Some of the electricity will be finding its way to Barrow through the national grid, forming another bond between the Vattenfall and the local community, adding to those we have already established including local job creation during construction and over the operating lifetime of the project. We are also proud that Ormonde has supported UK jobs further afield, through foundation manufacturing, wind turbine pre-assembly and engineering and project support. Ormonde is the first commercial scale project to use 5MW wind turbines on fabricated steel ‘jacket foundations’, and sets the scene for the large-scale deployment of such technology in the rapidly expanding UK offshore wind market.”

He added: “Ormonde Offshore Wind Farm is the third Vattenfall project in UK waters to generate green, clean electricity for UK consumers. We are pleased to have made good progress on this cutting edge engineering project and by the autumn we hope to be generating power from all 30 REpower turbines.”

Councillor John Murphy, Mayor of Barrow-in-Furness, said: “Here in Barrow-in-Furness we are world renowned experts in engineering and obviously we welcome the opportunity for more jobs. Renewable energy is essential for our future and the sustainability of future generations. Vattenfall’s Ormonde Offshore Wind Farm endorses our viability as being part of the Energy Coast.”

Charles Hendry MP, Minister for Energy at the Department for Energy and Climate Change, said: “I am pleased to hear that the turbines at the Ormonde offshore wind farm have started to supply clean, green, home-grown electricity into the grid. This is a real milestone for the company and the people of Barrow-in-Furness and I con-gratulate all involved for their efforts.

 “The involvement of Burntisland Fabrications and Harland & Wolff makes this a real success story for the UK offshore wind supply chain.”

Vattenfall is currently working to ensure that Ormonde Offshore Wind Farm is fully compliant with the code that governs the operation of the National Grid. This is being done whilst Vattenfall commissions the thirty wind turbines that make up the scheme. However, it is likely that the compliance exercise will be completed later than full commissioning and this may result in reduced output for a short period.

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Source: vattenfall, August 19, 2011