All 90 Vestas 9.5 MW wind turbines have been commissioned at the 857 MW Triton Knoll wind farm offshore Lincolnshire, UK, RWE said.
The wind farm, constructed by RWE on behalf the project partners, has reached this milestone on time, overcoming the challenges posed by the global pandemic, the developer said.
Standing at 164 metres tall, full operations of the 90 turbines are expected in the first quarter of 2022.
Julian Garnsey , Project Director for RWE and Triton Knoll, said: ”I am very proud of the Triton Knoll team’s achievement in completing the commissioning of the turbines on this nationally significant infrastructure project. The construction team has shown a huge amount of resilience in reaching this milestone. I want to thank our supply chain partners and all those that have worked so hard on our sites to keep the project on track, despite the many challenges posed by the coronavirus pandemic.”
The Triton Knoll project represents an investment of around GBP 2 billion that includes the construction of the wind farm and the grid connection. The wind farm is jointly owned by RWE (59 per cent), J-Power (25 per cent) and Kansai Electric Power (16 per cent). RWE led the wind farm’s development as well as construction and will also operate and maintain it on behalf of the project partners.
The wind farm will be operated from the Triton Knoll Operations & Maintenance base which is being expanded to become the new ‘Grimsby Hub’ facility, supporting both existing and future RWE operated projects. This new facility has the potential to create around 60 new, local jobs plus indirect jobs required in support of the facilities.
RWE is the second in the world for offshore wind and is driving the development of the largest offshore wind pipeline in the UK. It has committed to investing EUR 50 billion gross through to 2030 to expand its powerful and green generation capacity to 50 gigawatts, with around EUR 15 billion earmarked for the UK.