Press Releases
3 May 2006
The UK's newest offshore wind farm has completed its construction phase and is only weeks away from full operation.
The 30th turbine on the Barrow Offshore Wind (BOW) project, four miles off the South Cumbrian coast, was completed at the weekend and the wind farm will now see several weeks of commissioning before gearing up for full commercial operations in June.
Barrow is the UK’s newest offshore wind farm and equal largest, representing an investment of over £100 million by its joint owners, British Gas parent company Centrica and Danish energy group DONG Energy. The project will supply electricity to British Gas customers and is capable of powering 65,000 homes with green energy, as well as saving 200,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide in a year.
The Barrow wind farm is the first of several large scale renewable energy projects planned for the Irish Sea, which is one of three strategic zones laid down by the government for offshore wind farm development. The rectangular wind farm site covers 10 square kilometres of the East Irish Sea, consisting of four rows of turbines spaced 500 metres apart. The two section turbine towers, blades and nacelles were transported to site six at a time. Each turbine weighs 250 tonnes and stands 120 metres above sea level when the blades are vertical.
BOW Chairman and DONG Executive Vice President Hans Jørgen Rasmusen said: "We are pleased that we have completed the construction phase at BOW. This is an important milestone for DONG Energy’s activities in the UK and the company's strategy to become a major wind power player in Northern Europe. It gives me great pleasure to recognise the tremendous efforts of the entire project team."
Jake Ulrich, Managing Director of Centrica Energy, said: "Not only is this another milestone on the journey to secure the UK’s future energy needs, it underlines the significant investment to supply our British Gas customers with renewable electricity in the years ahead."
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