Turbine first for East Yorkshire coast

The first 6MW turbine has been erected at Dong Energy’s Westermost Rough wind farm, which is located off the East Yorkshire coast.

The use of larger wind turbines is an important step towards cost reduction of wind energy, said Dong.

In total, 35 6MW turbines from Siemens will be erected, with an optimum capacity of 210MW.

Duncan Clark, programme director at Westermost Rough, said: “This is the first time we have installed the Siemens 6MW turbine with a 154m diameter rotor on a commercial scale following smaller demonstration projects, and it represents a step change in our ability to provide more energy output from fewer turbines.”

Situated approximately 8km off the Holderness coast, the Westermost Rough site is one of two offshore wind farms that Dong Energy is currently constructing in the UK along with West of Duddon Sands which is located on the west coast.

Turbine installation on Westermost Rough will be completed during the first half 2015. The offshore installation work is being carried out by the Sea Challenger vessel, owned by A2SEA.

Construction is being managed from Dong Energy’s office in the Fish Dock, Grimsby on Britain’s east coast, by a team of around 50 people. 

Work is also currently underway onshore at the Royal Dock in Grimsby to construct a permanent home for the operations and maintenance teams who will service the proposed wind farm over its 25 year lifetime.