DONG energy: Final turbine installed at West of Duddon Sands offshore wind farm

The 108th turbine was hoisted into position by the Sea Installer late evening on Tuesday 2nd June 2014. John Hill, Project Director for West of Duddon Sands at DONG Energy said: “We’re delighted to have reached this huge milestone at this project, and it is a testament to the great work of the West of Duddon Sands teams in Barrow and Belfast that this final installation has gone so smoothly. There has been a lot of hard work from everyone on the project to get to this point. Now our focus turns to finishing the commissioning work on the rest of the turbines, getting them up and running and delivering power to the UK grid.”

Charlie Jordan, ScottishPower Renewables Project Director, said: “It is a fantastic achievement to complete turbine installation on West of Duddon Sands. We faced some very challenging conditions, including one of the stormiest winters in recent history, but managed to continue working on schedule. Over 1,000 people have been employed on this project, and everyone has worked incredibly hard help us reach this milestone. We look forward to fully completing the project by the end of the year.”

Commissioning work is well underway and is expected to be finished by the end of the year.  The West of Duddon Sands offshore wind farm is being run from a dedicated £4m operations and maintenance base in Barrow-in-Furness. The offshore wind farm is a 50/50 joint venture between DONG Energy and ScottishPower Renewables. 

Offshore work of foundation and turbine installation was carried out by two of the world’s most advanced installation vessels working in tandem: Swire Blue Ocean’s Pacific Orca and the Sea Installer – owned by A2SEA. Siemens are supplying and commissioning the 3.6MW turbines.