Rampion Base Open for Business

The operations and maintenance team working on the Rampion offshore wind farm has moved into its base at the East Quay at Newhaven Port, East Sussex.

Completed in March and with its official opening in May, the building meets all the needs of the 60-strong team with offices, control room and warehousing.

Plant Manager Richard Crowhurst said that moving into the new building is a significant milestone for the team as it takes over full operation of the wind farm, using advanced remote diagnostics and daily servicing.

The building is sited next to the quay for easy access to crew transfer vessels, which take turbine maintenance teams to the wind farm every day. The teams service every turbine once a year, with each service taking three to four days, to ensure they have the highest levels of availability to generate clean green electricity.

The 400MW Rampion wind farm is being built 13km off the Sussex coast by E.ON, the Green Investment Group, and Canadian energy infrastructure company Enbridge.

The wind farm comprises 116 MHI Vestas 3.45MW turbines all of which are now able to generate power. The project is expected to be fully commissioned by the end of 2018.