Turbine installation at Race Bank began back in last May and the final turbine installation along with 240 hours of acceptance testing of all the 91 of Siemens Gamesa’s 6MW turbines and a 200 hour test of the full park has been completed, the company stated.
The wind farm can now generate its full capacity of 573MW. Ørsted also stated that the Race Bank project passed the 1 Terrawatt hour (TWh) of energy generation since the construction had started.
It is located about 16.8 miles off Blakeney Point on the North Norfolk coast and 17.4 miles off the Lincolnshire coast at Chapel St Leonards. And is spread in an area of about 75km2.
The facility is estimated that the wind farm can help in offsetting about 820,000 tonnes of CO2 and 19,000 tonnes of SO2 from entering the atmosphere, had the energy been generated using fossil fuel-fired power plant.
Ørsted UK Race Bank project director David Summers said: “Full power and 1TWh of production are two fantastic milestones and have been achieved by the hard work and dedication of a significant number of people. Full power means that Race Bank can now produce enough green energy to power over half a million UK homes.
“Not only have we achieved full power on schedule, but we have also done so safely, without compromising our high standards. I now look forward to completing final activities on Race Bank and being able to officially open the project in the summer.”
Constructed at an estimated cost of £1.7bn, the offshore wind project is owned by Ørsted with 50% stake, Macquarie European Infrastructure Fund 5 with 25%, Macquarie Capital with 12.5% and Sumitomo 12.5%.
In 2016, Ørsted (previously Dong Energy) had agreed to divest 50% stake in the Race Bank offshore wind farm to the investment arm of the Australian outfit Macquarie Group in a deal worth £1.6bn.
Image: Race Bank offshore wind farm is all set to begin operations. Photo: Courtesy of Ørsted.
