Thanet Offshore Wind Farm (image courtesy of Peter Barker)

Jason Ormiston, Communications Manager at Vattenfall Wind Power UK, discusses how the Swedish utility company intends to lead the drive towards a more sustainable future for the European energy sector.

Standing on deck of the MPI Resolution the crew paid little attention to the winter sun rising above the English Channel.

Instead, they watched as the first Vestas V-90 3 megawatt (MW) wind turbine was slowly slotted into place at what will be, when built, the world’s largest offshore wind farm.

By any measure Thanet Offshore Wind Farm is an incredible engineering exercise and in just 12 months Gordon Clark, the Project Manager for Thanet Offshore Wind Farm, and his team had deployed the first of 100 turbines.

At around 6.30am on 9 December Vattenfall Wind Power had reached a milestone that was celebrated across northern Europe by Vattenfall’s 40,000 employees.

The Swedish utility has been leading the drive towards a more sustainable future for Europe’s energy sector. Its commitment to make electricity clean and achieve climate change neutrality in all of its activities by 2050, and to halve emissions by 2030, is driving investment in clean technologies, with wind power a cornerstone of delivery.

Vattenfall bought Thanet Offshore Wind Farm in late 2008, and Vattenfall Wind Power in the UK has led the construction effort on the 300MW wind farm ever since.

Ole Bigum Nielsen, Head of Offshore Projects for Vattenfall Wind Power in the UK, leads on Vattenfall’s offshore wind activity in the UK. He and Gordon have been heading the construction effort since the acquisition and Gordon is keen to underline the achievement of making such quick progress offshore.

He said: “There has been a dedicated army of contractors working continuously on Thanet and the pace of delivery has been maintained to ensure completion in the late summer.

“Since that December morning we have seen MPI Resolution, the jack-up installation vessel, carry its biggest ever load with components to build nine complete wind turbines, the completion of all monopile work in less than a year, the placement of all transition pieces within 11 months and the heart of the field by the installation of the massive sub-station offshore by the Stanislav Yudin. By any measure we are pushing the boundaries with Thanet.”

David Hodkinson, Director, Head of Development for Vattenfall Wind Power, is responsible for delivery of the impressive Vattenfall wind portfolio for both on and offshore wind projects in the UK.

He is keen to underline Vattenfall’s commitment to support the UK’s objectives on climate change and sustainable economic development whilst helping Vattenfall to make electricity clean by 2050.

David said: “At the moment Vattenfall Wind Power in the UK is investing more than £1billion building one onshore wind farm and two offshore projects. This investment is supporting around 1,500 UK jobs. We believe this shows the ability of the UK’s supply chain to deliver if given the chance.

“Considering the second-to-none expertise and experience in building offshore wind farms across Europe that Vattenfall enjoys we are well placed to make a positive impact on the UK’s offshore wind aspirations. That is why we were so pleased to be given exclusive rights by The Crown Estate, along with our joint-venture partner ScottishPower Renewables, to develop a major offshore wind farm off the East Anglia coast.”

He added: “The experience we have gained with Thanet, our operating project Kentish Flats and the under construction Ormonde Offshore Wind Farm means we are well placed to respond to the engineering challenge posed by the East Anglia Offshore Wind Farm.”

Everything about Thanet says ‘big’. Once connected to the National Grid, Thanet’s 300MW installed capacity will boost UK offshore wind capacity by more than 30% and will produce on average enough electricity to supply the equivalent of 200,000 homes with clean electricity.

Each turbine would be up to 115m tall at its highest point, with a minimum clearance above sea level of 22m. The distance between turbines would be approximately 500m along rows and 800m between rows.

The wind farm will be located in water depths of 20-30m and cover an area of 35km2 with the nearest turbine located approx 12km north east of Foreness Point.

If Thanet is big then the East Anglia Offshore Wind Farm is positively enormous. At 7,200MW it is potentially the second largest offshore wind farm in The Crown Estate’s third licensing round and will provide enough power annually for the equivalent of five million UK homes. The Zone is located 14km off the coast of Norfolk and Suffolk and covers approximately 6,000km2.

If the crew of the MPI Resolution was not distracted by a staggeringly beautiful dawn last December as the first of a hundred turbines was fitted, imagine how it will feel as the first of a thousand is installed later in the decade, a short distance to the north.

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