With the final turbine at Humber Gateway recently becoming operational, the entire offshore wind farm is now generating electricity. This major project in the UK’s North Sea is in the final phase of construction and will be completed this summer, two months ahead of schedule, E.ON reported.
Humber Gateway, which is located eight kilometers off the coast of Holderness, near Yorkshire, has an installed capacity of 219 megawatts. Construction of the offshore substation began in 2012, and the first of 73 turbines came online last February.
After the completion of reliability runs and finishing of minor tasks the wind farm will be handed over from the project organization to operational service. A wholly-owned E.ON project, Humber Gateway can supply up to 170,000 households with climate-friendly power.
“The rapid completion of this project is an outstanding success,” said E.ON Management Board member Bernhard Reutersberg , who took over responsibility for the company’s renewables business at the start of June. “E.ON is well on its way toward making offshore wind power even more competitive and reducing power-generation costs to less than €100 per megawatt-hour. We’re superbly positioned for future auctions in relevant European markets.”
Alongside Humber Gateway, E.ON is also building Amrumbank West offshore wind farm in the German North Sea. In May, the company announced its decision to move forward with Rampion, a 400 megawatt project off the south coast of England.
Image: MPI Offshore