Humber Gateway Wind Farm

Humber Gateway Wind Farm
Humber Gateway visible on the horizon, under construction in March 2015
Location of Humber Gateway Wind Farm in England
Country	England, United Kingdom
Location	8 km east of Spurn Point Humberside
Coordinates	53°38′38″N 0°17′35″E / 53.644°N 0.293°E / 53.644; 0.293Coordinates: 53°38′38″N 0°17′35″E / 53.644°N 0.293°E / 53.644; 0.293
Status	Operational
Construction began	2013
Commission date	June 2015
Construction cost	£736 million
Wind farm
Type	Offshore
Site area	35 km2 (14 sq mi)
Distance from shore	8 km (5.0 mi)
Power generation
Units operational	73
Make and model	Vestas V112 3.0MW
Nameplate capacity	219 MW
Website Humber Gateway

Humber Gateway Wind Farm is an offshore wind farm 8 km east of Spurn Point off the coast of the East Riding of Yorkshire, in the North Sea, England; the wind farm is located in water depths around 15 metres (49 ft) and covers an area of approximately 25 square kilometres (9.7 sq mi). The wind farm became operational in June 2015.

It was developed by Humber Wind Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of E.ON UK plc.; the wind farm consists of 73 3 MW wind turbines, with the electrical cable making landfall at Easington, and connecting to the National Grid, at Salt End, on the eastern outskirts of Kingston upon Hull.

History

In 2003 EON submitted a bid to the Crown Estate to develop a wind farm in the 'Greater Wash Strategic Area';^{[note 1][2]} a planning application was submitted in 2008 for a 300 MW, £700 million, wind farm.^{[3][note 2]} Additional planning applications for onshore substation, and onshore underground cable were submitted in 2009/2008, and approved in 2010.^[5][6]

The site was located over 8 km east of Easington, in an area roughly 35 km² (14 sq mi) with a water depth of around 15 m (49 ft), and approximately 15 km north-northeast from Donna Nook on the Lincolnshire coast. Cable connections were to make land fall at Easington and connect via about a 30 km underground cable connection with the National Grid near Salt End (near Hull). Initial plans were for a 300 MW wind farm, with 42-83 turbines.^[7] The wind farm had an expected operational life of 40 years based on the length of the Crown Estate lease, with possible turbine replacement after 20–25 years.^[8]

Governmental planning approval for a 230 MW (77 turbine) wind farm was given in early 2011.^[9][10] In December 2011 E ON published plans for a 73 turbine, 219 MW wind farm, using Vestas V112 3.0 MW turbines, with an initial completion date scheduled for spring 2015.^[11]

Contracts, design and construction

In 2012 CG (Avantha) was awarded the main contract for the design to installation of both onshore and offshore substations for the project.^[12] In early 2013 contract for the supply of turbine monopile foundations were split between TAG Energy Solutions (UK) (16 foundations), with the remainder supplied by Sif (Netherlands).^[13][14] ABB Group was contracted to supply 132kV submarine export cables in March 2012,^[15] the inter turbine cabling supply contract was awarded to General Cable subsidiary Norddeutsche Seekabelwerke Gmbh. in August 2012.^[16]

Harland and Wolff was contracted to design and supply the about 1300t substation foundation structure and piles in March 2013.^[17]

The first turbine foundation was installed in September 2013.^[18] In December 2013 two 600t offshore substations were delivered to the Port of Sunderland for installation at the wind farm.^[19]

By January 2014 the submarine export cables to the offshore transformer had been laid.^[18] The first turbine was installed mid 2014.^[20][21] Offshore substation installation was completed in late 2014.^[22] The wind farm first generated power in early 2015, with 58 of the turbines installed,^[23] and became fully operational by June 2015.^[24][25] The wind farm was formally opened by Andrea Leadsom (MP) 30 September 2015.^[26]

In September 2015 Balfour Beatty Equitix Consortium (Balfour Beatty/Equitix) became preferred bidder to own and operate the £162.9 million electricity export cable.^[27] The European Investment Bank provides £82 million for the transmission.^[28]

Grimsby operations centre

53°34′45″N 0°03′29″W / 53.57919°N 0.05798°W / 53.57919; -0.05798 (E.ON Operations and Maintenance Facility Grimsby Docks)

In mid 2012 E ON submitted a planning application to build an operations and maintenance centre at the Port of Grimsby, for the maintenance of the Humber Gateway wind farm.^[29][30] Construction firm ISG was awarded a £3 million contract to construct the centre in March 2013, including 5,920 sq ft (550 m²) and 4,047 sq ft (376.0 m²) warehouse and storage buildings.^[31][32] Construction was completed by September 2013.^[33] The centre was formally opened by Eric Pickles on 1 August 2014.^[21]

Notes

References

Sources

• Humber Gateway project timeline, EON 
• Humber Gateway Offshore Wind Farm - Non-Technical Summary of the Offshore Environmental Statement and Onshore Cable Route Environmental Statement (PDF), EON UK 
• Onshore route and offshore site map (PDF), E ON, retrieved 31 January 2014 

External links

• "Humber Gateway". E.ON Energy. 
• "Humber Gateway". www.4coffshore.com. 

Electricity generation in Yorkshire and the Humber
Power stations	Biomass Active Blackburn Meadows Drax (co-fires, and full biomass) Eggborough (co-fires) Ferrybridge Multifuel (co-fires) Glanford Markham Grange Proposed/Future Brigg Stallingborough Coal Active Drax Eggborough Closed Blackburn Meadows Bradford Doncaster Elland Ferrybridge A, B & C Foss Island Huddersfield Keadby Kirkstall Mexborough Neepsend Rotherham Sculcoates Skelton Grange Thornhill Thorpe Marsh Wakefield Gas Active A.H. Marks Castleford Conoco Phillips East Knapton Glanford Brigg Humber Energy CHP Immingham Keadby (mothballed) Killingholme A Killingholme B Salt End South Humber Bank Thornhill Hydro Active Settle Closed Linton Falls Proposed/Future Linton Falls Incinerators/Waste Active Kirklees Newlincs Sheffield Wheldale Closed Foss Island Proposed Allerton Park Quarry Ferrybridge Multi-fuel Wind Active Humber Gateway Keadby Royd Moor Out Newton Rusholme Westermost Rough Proposed/Future Dogger Bank Hornsea Sober Hill
Organisations	Drax Group Pre-nationalisation electric power companies Yorkshire Electricity