Northumberland offshore wind farm at Blyth approved

A new offshore wind farm at Blyth, off the coast of Northumberland, has been approved and will be complete by the end of 2017

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A new offshore wind farm off the coast of Blyth in Northumberland has been approved for construction.

The cables for the wind farm will be laid by the work vessel Stemat Spirit

The cables for the wind farm will be laid by the work vessel Stemat Spirit

Work for the EDF Energy project has already begun onshore, and offshore work will start in 2017 to install five turbines with a total of 41.5MW capacity.  It is anticipated that the turbines will provide enough low carbon electricity to power 33 000 homes. The project has permission for a maximum total generating capacity of almost 100 MW. More turbines will be added at a later date.

Vestas wind farm turbine

The power generated by the wind farm will be supplied to an electricity substation at Blyth for transmission to the National Grid. At its peak there will be around 200 people working on the project.

The Blyth Offshore wind project will be built by EDF Energy Renewables, a 50-50 UK joint venture between EDF Energies Nouvelles and EDF Energy. It plans to complete construction of the first five turbines in 2017.

Vestas wind turbine

The windfarm will use state-of-the-art ‘gravity base’ foundation, which will be large pre-fabriacted concrete structures that will be built on the Tyne, floated into location and sunk.

Matthieu Hue, EDF Energy Renewables CEO, said:

‘As a company, we already have a strong presence in the North East, in low carbon electricity generation and serving customers including our first offshore wind farm at Teesside so we’re pleased to be able to add another project to our portfolio in the region. We are delighted that the gravity based foundations will be made in Newcastle. The Port of Blyth will be used for operations and maintenance and the blades for the turbines will be made on the Isle of Wight.’

The Blyth wind farm will be located 3.5 miles off the coast of Northumberland. It will have a maximum capacity of 99.9 megawatts.

Fact about the Vestas V164-8.0MW turbines being installed
8MW rated power
80m blades, the equivalent of nine double decker London buses
Each blade weighs 35 tonnes
The nacelle is 20m long, 8m wide and 8m high, weighing approximately 390 tonnes
Approximate hub height of 105m
Approximate tip height of 187m
Approximate tip clearance above sea level of 23m