Humber Gateway Wind Farm

Humber Gateway Wind Farm

Humber Gateway visible on the horizon, under construction in March 2015
Location of Humber Gateway Wind Farm in England
Country England, United Kingdom
Location 8 km east of Spurn Point Humberside
Coordinates 53°38′38″N 0°17′35″E / 53.644°N 0.293°E / 53.644; 0.293Coordinates: 53°38′38″N 0°17′35″E / 53.644°N 0.293°E / 53.644; 0.293
Status Operational
Construction began 2013
Commission date June 2015
Construction cost £736 million
Wind farm
Type Offshore
Site area 35 km2 (14 sq mi)
Distance from shore 8 km (5.0 mi)
Power generation
Units operational 73
Make and model Vestas V112 3.0MW
Nameplate capacity 219 MW
Website
Humber Gateway

Humber Gateway Wind Farm is an offshore wind farm 8 km east of Spurn Point off the coast of the East Riding of Yorkshire, in the North Sea, England; the wind farm is located in water depths around 15 metres (49 ft) and covers an area of approximately 25 square kilometres (9.7 sq mi). The wind farm became operational in June 2015.

It was developed by Humber Wind Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of E.ON UK plc.; the wind farm consists of 73 3 MW wind turbines, with the electrical cable making landfall at Easington, and connecting to the National Grid, at Salt End, on the eastern outskirts of Kingston upon Hull.

History

In 2003 EON submitted a bid to the Crown Estate to develop a wind farm in the 'Greater Wash Strategic Area';[note 1][2] a planning application was submitted in 2008 for a 300 MW, £700 million, wind farm.[3][note 2] Additional planning applications for onshore substation, and onshore underground cable were submitted in 2009/2008, and approved in 2010.[5][6]

The site was located over 8 km east of Easington, in an area roughly 35 km2 (14 sq mi) with a water depth of around 15 m (49 ft), and approximately 15 km north-northeast from Donna Nook on the Lincolnshire coast. Cable connections were to make land fall at Easington and connect via about a 30 km underground cable connection with the National Grid near Salt End (near Hull). Initial plans were for a 300 MW wind farm, with 42-83 turbines.[7] The wind farm had an expected operational life of 40 years based on the length of the Crown Estate lease, with possible turbine replacement after 20–25 years.[8]

Governmental planning approval for a 230 MW (77 turbine) wind farm was given in early 2011.[9][10] In December 2011 E ON published plans for a 73 turbine, 219 MW wind farm, using Vestas V112 3.0 MW turbines, with an initial completion date scheduled for spring 2015.[11]

Contracts, design and construction

In 2012 CG (Avantha) was awarded the main contract for the design to installation of both onshore and offshore substations for the project.[12] In early 2013 contract for the supply of turbine monopile foundations were split between TAG Energy Solutions (UK) (16 foundations), with the remainder supplied by Sif (Netherlands).[13][14] ABB Group was contracted to supply 132kV submarine export cables in March 2012,[15] the inter turbine cabling supply contract was awarded to General Cable subsidiary Norddeutsche Seekabelwerke Gmbh. in August 2012.[16]

Harland and Wolff was contracted to design and supply the about 1300t substation foundation structure and piles in March 2013.[17]

The first turbine foundation was installed in September 2013.[18] In December 2013 two 600t offshore substations were delivered to the Port of Sunderland for installation at the wind farm.[19]

By January 2014 the submarine export cables to the offshore transformer had been laid.[18] The first turbine was installed mid 2014.[20][21] Offshore substation installation was completed in late 2014.[22] The wind farm first generated power in early 2015, with 58 of the turbines installed,[23] and became fully operational by June 2015.[24][25] The wind farm was formally opened by Andrea Leadsom (MP) 30 September 2015.[26]

In September 2015 Balfour Beatty Equitix Consortium (Balfour Beatty/Equitix) became preferred bidder to own and operate the £162.9 million electricity export cable.[27] The European Investment Bank provides £82 million for the transmission.[28]

Grimsby operations centre

53°34′45″N 0°03′29″W / 53.57919°N 0.05798°W / 53.57919; -0.05798 (E.ON Operations and Maintenance Facility Grimsby Docks)

In mid 2012 E ON submitted a planning application to build an operations and maintenance centre at the Port of Grimsby, for the maintenance of the Humber Gateway wind farm.[29][30] Construction firm ISG was awarded a £3 million contract to construct the centre in March 2013, including 5,920 sq ft (550 m2) and 4,047 sq ft (376.0 m2) warehouse and storage buildings.[31][32] Construction was completed by September 2013.[33] The centre was formally opened by Eric Pickles on 1 August 2014.[21]

Notes

  1. ↑ The 'Greater Wash Strategic Environmental Assessment Area' was a region identified as a potential wind farm area in the UK Round 2 wind farm development, including areas in the sea off the east coast of England in Holderness, Lincolnshire, the Wash and north Norfolk.[1]
  2. ↑ Planning application was undertaken by Humber Wind Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of E ON UK plc.[4]

References

  1. ↑ Offshore Wind Farm Development: Strategic Environmental Assessment (R2 Wind): Environmental Report, Department of Energy & Climate Change, 29 April 2003, Annex 2
  2. ↑ Humber Gateway project timeline, (E ON)
  3. ↑ E.ON submits planning application to build one of the UK’s largest offshore wind farms off the Yorkshire coast, hopes for swift resolution to MoD objection (PDF) (press release), E ON, 7 April 2008
  4. ↑ Humber Gateway - Non-Technical Summary, (E ON), p.4
  5. ↑ (09/04287/STPLFE) Erection of electrical substation .., East Riding of Yorkshire Council, 29 October 2009
  6. ↑ (08/01993/STPLFE) Construction of onshore sub-surface cables from Easington to substation at Saltend .., East Riding of Yorkshire Council, 7 April 2008
  7. ↑ Humber Gateway - Non-Technical Summary, (E ON), pp.6-7
  8. ↑ Humber Gateway - Non-Technical Summary, (E ON), p.9
  9. ↑ "Humber Gateway wind farm gets government approval", BBC News Humberside, 9 February 2011
  10. ↑ "Humber Gateway offshore wind farm given go-ahead", www.gov.uk, 9 February 2011
  11. ↑ E.ON announces £736m plan for Humber Gateway offshore wind farm (press release), E ON, 15 December 2011
  12. ↑ "CG to Supply Substations for E.ON's Offshore Wind Farm (UK)", www.offshorewind.biz, 11 January 2012
  13. ↑ Gill, Erin (7 March 2013), "Sif to supply Humber Gateway and Amrumbank West", www.windpoweroffshore.com
  14. ↑ E.ON awards wind farm foundations contract to TAG Energy Solutions, TAG Energy Solutions, 27 February 2013
  15. ↑ "ABB Wins Subsea Cable Order For UK's Humber Gateway Offshore Wind Farm", www.epcengineer.com, 7 March 2012
  16. ↑ "Norddeutsche Seekabelwerke GmbH to supply inter-array cabling for offshore wind farm Humber Gateway", www.yourcableandwirenews, 17 August 2012
  17. ↑ "E.ON places major contract with Harland and Wolff", www.harland-wolff.com, 26 March 2013
  18. 1 2 "E.on's Humber Gateway offshore wind farm project making 'good progress'". Grimsby Telegraph. 7 January 2014.
  19. ↑ Gibson, Robert (2 December 2013), "Substations arrive at Port of Sunderland", The Journal
  20. ↑ "Eon opens Humber turbines tally", renews.biz, 1 August 2014
  21. 1 2 Secretary of State opens E.ON's Humber Gateway Offshore Wind Farm Operations and maintenance base (press release), EON, 1 August 2014
  22. ↑ "MPI polishes off Humber platform", renews.biz, 3 November 2014
  23. ↑ "Eon delivers first power at Humber", renews.biz, 24 February 2015
  24. ↑ "219MW Humber steams ahead", renews.biz, 5 June 2015
  25. ↑ "Eon energy project sees every turbine generating - Grimsby Telegraph". Grimsby Telegraph. Retrieved 15 June 2015.
  26. ↑ "Eon opens Humber Gateway", renews.biz, 30 September 2015
  27. ↑ "Balfour Beatty Equitix wins Humber", renews.biz, 24 September 2015
  28. ↑ "Humber Gateway Offshore Transmission Project Reaches Financial Close". CleanTechnica. 8 September 2016. Retrieved 9 September 2016.
  29. ↑ "E.ON to create 50 Grimsby jobs in Humber Gateway wind farm project". Grimsby Telegraph. 5 July 2012.
  30. ↑ (DC/453/12/EMA) Erection of an operations & maintenance building with warehouse and offices .., North East Lincolnshire Council, 27 June 2012
  31. ↑ "£3m Grimsby wind farm base contract handed out". Grimsby Telegraph. 27 March 2013.
  32. ↑ ISG takes Humber Gateway scheme with E.ON, ISG
  33. ↑ "HUMBER GATEWAY HANDOVER", www.humber-gateway.com, 9 September 2013, archived from the original on 2 February 2014

Sources

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