The North East’s first large scale offshore wind farm has now started to produce electricity as work continues towards completion of the project.
The first three wind turbine generators at the EDF Energy Renewables Teesside offshore wind farm have now been fully commissioned and are supplying electricity to the National Grid.
When complete the 27 wind turbines located off the coast at Redcar will be capable of generating electricity equivalent to the consumption of 40,000 households.
18 turbines have now been fully installed using the locally based MPI Adventure jack up vessel operating out of the Port of Hartlepool.
After installation a commissioning and testing programme is undertaken by the wind turbine generator manufacturer, Siemens, to ensure that each is ready for operation.
The installation and commissioning programme is ongoing and on completion the wind farm will be capable of generating up to its full output of 62MW.
Cables buried on the seabed transmit the electricity from the wind turbines to a newly constructed substation at Warrenby where the voltage is boosted to reduce transmission losses before entering the electrical grid via a connection at Lackenby.
Christian Egal, Chief Executive of EDF Energy Renewables, said: “We are delighted that first supplies of low carbon electricity are now being produced by our Teesside scheme.
“This is an important milestone for us and one that that will help us to maintain our commitment to deliver energy in a way that is sustainable, affordable and secure.
“As work progresses, further turbines will be brought on stream over the next few weeks and in doing so will enable the Teesside project to make a significant contribution to meeting these objectives.”
EDF Energy Renewables already has 24 operational onshore wind farms in the UK with a generating capacity of 463MW. With the completion of the Teesside scheme in June, EDF Energy Renewables generating capacity will increase to 525 MW.
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Press release, April 29, 2013; Image: mhwpr