First power from the Walney 2 offshore wind farm
- The fastest ever installation of an offshore wind farm
- Walney 1 and 2 together form the world’s largest wind farm
Walney 2 offshore wind farm has today, 1 November 2011, started delivering CO2-free electricity to the UK’s national grid, with electricity now being generated from the first of its 51 turbines.
Walney 1 was fully operational May 2011 and Walney 2 is expected to be fully operational by the end of 2011, making Walney the world's largest offshore wind farm, with a total capacity of 367.2MW of renewable energy production. This is enough to power around 320,000 UK homes or one-and-a-half times the number of homes in Cumbria.
DONG Energy (50.1%), SSE (Scottish and Southern Energy) (25.1%) and OPW (24.8%), a company jointly owned by Dutch pension administrator PGGM and Ampère Equity Fund (managed by Triodos Investment Management), are the companies behind Walney Windfarms Limited, with DONG Energy as the leading partner in the construction and operational phases of the projects.
Anders Eldrup, CEO at DONG Energy, said:
“Walney 2 is the world’s fastest ever installation of an offshore wind farm and this accomplishment underlines DONG Energy’s position as a strong market leader within offshore wind. We developed our techniques for faster and more cost efficient installation methods in the challenging conditions in the Irish Sea. This is an important step in the continuing drive to reduce the cost of construction of offshore wind farms.”
Colin Hood, SSE’s Chief Operating Officer, said: “This is a major milestone in the development of the Walney offshore wind farms and it demonstrates the excellent progress being made on the project. As the UK’s leading generator of electricity from renewable sources, SSE is committed to helping to increase further the amount of renewable electricity generation in the UK, and the export of electricity at Walney is a step towards achieving this.”
For further information:
DONG Energy
Media Relations
Andreas Krog
+45 9955 2023
Facts:
The Walney Offshore Windfarms
Walney 1 and Walney 2 were constructed by Walney Offshore Windfarms Ltd in 2010 and 2011 respectively. . The Walney offshore wind farms are located approximately 15km from the coastline of Walney Island, near Barrow in Furness in Cumbria, in a north west to south-easterly direction covering an area of approximately 73km2.
The two wind farms each comprises 51 turbines with a total capacity of 367.2MW. The development includes foundations, turbines, export- and array cables, offshore substations and onshore connection to grid. The capacity of each turbine is 3.6MW, and the rotor diameter of the turbines is 107m for Walney 1 and 120m for Walney 2, with a maximum height of 150m from sea level to blade tip.
Operation and maintenance of the wind farm is based in Barrow-in-Furness and comprises approximately 60 people, providing opportunities for partnerships with local business throughout the project lifetime and creating jobs in the Furness area. Further information on the project at www. wowind.co.uk
DONG Energy is one of the leading energy groups in Northern Europe. We are headquartered in Denmark. Our business is based on procuring, producing,
distributing and trading in energy and related products in Northern Europe. We
have approximately 6,000 employees and generated DKK 55 billion (EUR
7.3 billion) in revenue in 2010.
For further information, see www.dongenergy.com.
SSE (Scottish and Southern Energy) is one of the UK’s leading energy companies, involved in the generation, distribution and supply of electricity and in the extraction, storage, distribution and supply of gas. Its core purpose is to provide the energy people need in a reliable and sustainable way. It supplies energy to 10 million customers throughout the country, is independently-recognised as the best energy supplier for customer service and is the UK’s leading generator of electricity from renewable sources.
For further information, see www.sse.com
PGGM is the administrative organisation for collective pension schemes, principally in the care and welfare sector. It is also an income provider for people in the care and welfare sector. PGGM currently manages around EUR 100 billion of pension assets of over 2.3 million participants.
Ampère Equity Fund, managed by Triodos Investment Management, invests in renewable energy projects in Western Europe. It invests with amounts in the range of EUR 10 million to EUR 50 million equity per investment. The fund focuses on investments in energy producing assets applying proven technology. such as onshore wind, offshore wind, solar PV, concentrated solar power and biomass power plants that provide stable and predictable long term returns for its investors. The Fund has attracted major Dutch institutional investors with a total committed capital of EUR 320 million which provides certainty of funding for its investment strategy until the end of 2011. Triodos Investment Management is a subsidiary of Triodos Bank with over 25 years’ experience in renewable energy investments.