Humber Gateway OWF: 24 Foundations Installed, More Workers Needed

The first phase of foundations installation at the Humber Gateway offshore wind farm has been successfully completed.

Twenty four foundations consisting of a tubular steel monopile have been driven into the seabed, creating the foundation bases for the turbines. Now, this GBP 700 million offshore wind project reached key milestone in its construction programme, E.ON said today.

The next major phase of work is set to commence in April, consisting of the installation of a further forty nine foundations. Due to the scale of the development and upcoming work, E.ON will soon be recruiting an additional 13 people to join the Operations team.

Matt Swanwick, Project Manager at E.ON, said: “We’ve hit significant milestones in the successful development of the Humber Gateway Wind Farm and hope to continue this trend until its proposed completion in 2015. So far, this has proved to be an important project for the area, creating a number of job opportunities and business for locally based companies during the construction process. 

“The wind farm will be one of the UK’s largest offshore sites, generating enough clean, green electricity to power up to 170,000 homes in the area, further highlighting the UK’s continued investment in renewable energy sources.”

The site’s £3 million onshore facility has also been completed in Grimsby Fish Dock, which will accommodate the Operations and Maintenance Team with offices, stores, a workshop and wind farm control room. The building has its own solar array, roof top wind turbines and charging points for electric vehicles – helping to boost the project’s green credentials.

Two vessels, the Spirit of Hoton and Spirit of Sunthorp, have recently been delivered to the site and will shortly be deployed for operations. These are two of three vessels being built by UK based Alicat Workboats, and will be used for transporting personnel and goods to the wind farm during construction and into operations. The third vessel, the Spirit of Turmarr, will be delivered in March. Each vessel has been named after old villages lost through coastal erosion along the Holderness Coast, giving them a local connection.

UK Based North Sea Services who manage E.ON’s fleet of vessels have recruited seven people from the local area to crew and maintain the vessels, with three more skippers needed in the next few weeks.

The Humber Gateway Wind Farm is located 8km off the Holderness coast, East Riding of Yorkshire. The wind farm will have 73 turbines and an installed capacity of up to 219MW.

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Press release, February 7, 2014; Image: E.ON