Project Development, Wind Power

Final Construction Contracts Awarded for London Array Offshore Windfarm

London, UK [Power Engineering] UK-based MPI and A2SEA, a Danish company, have been selected to supply construction vessels for the first phase of the London Array wind farm being built by a consortium of E.ON, DONG Energy and Masdar.

MPI will supply London Array with the MPI Adventure, a vessel currently being built in China, according to New Energy Focus. The company said the ship will be capable of transporting, lifting and installing more wind turbines and foundations than current boats. It expects the vessel to start operations in April 2011.

In addition, A2SEA will supply the Sea Worker, a jack-up barge that is expected to be on site from March 2011.
 
Richard Rigg, project director for London Array, said these contracts marked the end of the scheme’s development phase. “These are the final major construction contracts to be signed for London Array, which has now moved as a project from the development phase into full construction,” he said.
 
“These vessels are critical to the successful installation of the wind turbines and their foundations and we are delighted to be working with such experienced contractors.” London Array will be built around 20 km off the coasts of Kent and Essex. The wind farm will be installed on a 245 square km site and will be built in two phases.
 
Phase One, scheduled to be complete in 2012, will cover 90 square km and include 175 turbines with a combined capacity of 630 MW. If approved, the second phase will add enough capacity to bring the total to 1GW and the site will have the potential supply enough power for around 750 000 homes – a quarter of Greater London.

The project is owned by a consortium of Danish firm DONG Energy (50 percent), E.ON (30 percent) and Abu Dhabi investment vehicle Masdar (20 percent).

This article was reprinted with permission from Power Engineering as part of the PennWell Corporation Renewable Energy World Network and may not be reproduced without express written permission from the publisher.

 

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