This week: UK - Mabey Bridge erects first REpower wind turbines

UK wind turbine tower manufacturer Mabey Bridge has built on its capability in the renewable energy sector by installing five wind turbines at Seamer wind farm in Teeside.

The manufacturer makes wind turbine towers at its base in Chepstow and transports them to sites across the UK.

In addition to manufacturing five 80m-high towers for client REpower, Mabey Bridge also installed them, along with nacelles, rotor hubs and blades.

Using a 1,200-tonne main crane and 300-tonne tailing crane, each tower took 10 erectors two days to assemble.

Seamer wind farm lies across the administrative boundaries of Hambleton and Stockton-on-Tees. The site is on arable farm land between the villages of Seamer and Hilton.

The site was developed by Banks and has recently been acquired by Infinis, one of the UK’s leading generators of renewable power.

When operational, the 2MW turbines are expected to generate enough electricity to meet the average annual electricity demands of 6,400 local households.

The wind turbines are supplied by REpower UK whose managing director, Rick Eggleston, commented that using Mabey Bridge for the Seamer installation made perfect sense.

He said: “REpower has worked closely with the company since its move into the wind industry, and we have developed an extremely positive relationship. Considering their heritage we had no hesitation in choosing Mabey Bridge for this job.

The fact that Mabey Bridge now offers the expertise to install wind turbines can only be a positive for the UK renewables sector.”

Mabey Bridge UK director Alex Smale said: “Being able to install wind turbines as well as make and transport towers is a major step forward for Mabey Bridge and we are delighted that REpower has backed the on-site engineering skills that we have.

“We are very excited to diversify into wind turbine tower installation, a new business stream for Mabey Bridge.”