04/03/2018

Renewable energy boost for UK as Galloper offshore wind farm hits full throttle

£1.5 billion UK renewable energy infrastructure project / Capacity to generate enough power for 380,000 homes / All fifty-six Siemens 6.3MW turbines generating renewable electricity

Image: innogy

The 353MW Galloper Offshore Wind Farm, has achieved full generation, on schedule and within budget, with all fifty-six turbines now generating home-grown renewable electricity.

Construction of the £1.5 billion wind farm located 30km off the Suffolk coast has been completed in record time since it began in November 2016. innogy has led on the development and construction of Galloper on behalf of the project partners, and confirmed full generation was achieved on 29^th March 2018 as Siemens Gamesa switched on the last of the 56 wind turbines.

Progress on the project has moved at pace with foundation installation completed two months ahead of schedule in March 2017 and completion of construction and first generation achieved by the end of 2017.

Galloper Project Director, Toby Edmonds, said: “Getting all the turbines switched on means we’ve done it and in record time! We can now celebrate the project moving into the operation phase. Galloper will run for over twenty years ensuring clean renewable energy helping to power a decarbonised UK economy and delivering enough energy for around 380,000 homes annually.

He added “The Galloper project is supporting the UK’s thriving renewable energy. We are proud to have employed 700 people during the construction of the project and have also established a team of 70 people to operate the wind farm from Harwich bringing prosperity and opportunity to the east coast of England. Over its operating lifetime, fifty eight percent of the investment at Galloper will be invested in UK companies.”

Clark MacFarlane, UK Managing Director of Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy said: "The commissioning of the Galloper project is a momentous moment - although Galloper was one of the last projects of its round, it is at the beginning of a new era for offshore wind power in the UK. This year sees not only full generation from Galloper, but also a halving of costs for offshore wind. The close working relationship Siemens Gamesa has built up with innogy over a number of projects has made the former possible and contributed considerably to the latter."

A planning application is currently being progressed for the Operations & Maintenance building and infrastructure. Once planning permission is granted, construction of the base and supporting infrastructure is expected to take around 12 months.