First UK-Made Offshore Wind Tower Sections Ready to Roll

CS Wind UK is commencing the transportation of the first nine offshore tower sections from its Machrihanish factory in Campbeltown, Scotland, to the local harbour on 8 January.

The final of the nine tower sections is scheduled to be transported from the factory to Cambeltown harbour on 12 January.

The wind turbine tower manufacturer started working on the first sections in late August 2017, with the first unit completed a month later.

CS Wind of South Korea bought the Machrihanish factory, former Wind Towers Scotland, in April 2016, and announced plans to set up the first factory in the UK to commercially produce offshore wind towers, located adjacent to CS Wind’s current onshore wind facilities.

In July 2016, CS Wind UK signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Siemens to produce up to 200 towers for the company’s offshore wind turbines between 2017 and 2019.

The same month, the wind tower manufacturer signed an agreement with Vattenfall on the potential supply of components for Vattenfall’s onshore and offshore wind projects in the UK.

In December 2016, Ørsted, former DONG Energy, announced it was making a multi-million pound investment in CS Wind’s new offshore tower manufacturing facility, which gives the offshore wind developer preferred access rights to towers for its wind farms.