Triton Knoll Offshore Wind Farm

Triton Knoll offshore wind farm is an 857MW project under construction off the coast of Lincolnshire, East England, UK. The project is being developed by innogy, a subsidiary of German energy giant RWE, which will also operate the offshore wind farm.

innogy holds a 59% stake, while J-Power (25%) and Kansai Electric Power (16%) are the co-owners of the project.

Financial closure of the £1.7bn ($2.25bn) offshore wind project was reached in August 2018, followed by the start of onshore construction works in September 2018.

Offshore construction works were started with the installation of the first turbine monopile foundation in January 2020, while commissioning is expected in 2022.

Once operational, the Triton Knoll wind farm will generate sufficient power to provide electricity to 800,000 homes. The project will also help offset 12.88 million tonnes (Mt) of CO₂ and 29,929 tonnes (t) of SO₂ emissions a year.

The project is expected to create 1,900 jobs during the construction phase and 325 jobs during the operation phase.

Triton Knoll wind project development history

The Triton Knoll offshore wind farm development licence was awarded to RWE under the Government of UK’s Round 2 offshore tender process in 2003. Environmental survey at the project site was completed by 2008.

The project’s planning application was accepted by the Infrastructure Planning Commission for examination in 2012.

Development consent order (DCO) for the offshore array was granted in July 2013, while the consent for the onshore electrical system was received in September 2016.

The Triton offshore wind farm was awarded the contract for difference (CFD) at a strike price of £74.75 per MWh by the UK Government in September 2017.

Triton Knoll offshore wind farm location and make-up

The Triton Knoll offshore wind farm is being constructed on a 145km² site in the Greater Wash Strategic Area, approximately 33km off the Lincolnshire coast.

It will use 90 V164-9.5 MW wind turbines from MHI Vestas. Each turbine will have a rated capacity of 9.5MW, hub height of 140m and rotor diameter of 164m, while the swept area will be 21,124m².

Five meteorological masts will be installed at the site for wind data collection and two offshore substations for power transmission.

Power transmission

The electricity generated by the turbines will be gathered and transmitted first to the on-site offshore substations through 97 inter-array cables and then onshore through two 50km-long subsea export cables.

The export cable will make landfall to the north of Anderby Creek from where electricity will be fed to the national grid via 57km of 220kV high-voltage alternating current (HVAC) cables connecting a substation at Bicker Fen.

Power purchase agreement

Orsted will off-take the entire power output of the Triton Knoll wind farm for a period of 15 years, under a power purchase agreement (PPA) signed with innogy in September 2018.

Contractors involved

MHI Vestas was contracted to supply 90 V164-9.5 MW turbines for the Triton Knoll offshore wind farm in September 2018.

MHI Vestas selected ABB to deliver its WindSTAR transformers for the Triton Knoll  wind turbines in February 2020.

GeoSea was awarded the turbine transport and installation contract for the project in November 2017.

Boskalis was contracted for the supply and installation of the export and inter-array cables for the wind farm in August 2018.

Nexans received the contract to supply the HVAC land export cable for the wind farm in October 2018.

Siemens Energy Management was contracted to design, supply, and build the onshore substation as well as two offshore transformer modules for the Triton Knoll offshore wind project in September 2018.

A consortium of Smulders and ENGIE Fabricom was subcontracted by Siemens for the manufacturing of the offshore transformer modules in November 2018, while JGC Engineering and Technical Services was subcontracted to provide high-voltage equipment containers for the project.

Seaway Heavy Lifting, a subsidiary of Subsea 7, was contracted to transport and install the wind turbine foundations for the two offshore substations in September 2018.

James Fisher Marine Services was awarded the contract for offshore site preparation for the wind farm in March 2019.

NIRAS was engaged for overseeing the pre-application and post-application process as well as for the ornithological impact and habitats regulations assessments of the project.