MHI Vestas Offshore Wind will supply 90 of its flagship V164-9.5 MW turbines for the 860 MW project, its largest MW project to date. It celebrated the financial close of the deal with innogy at the 860 MW Triton Knoll Offshore Wind Farm, confirming the largest MW project in the history of the turbine company. Affirming the company’s strengthening position in the UK offshore wind market, the Danish-Japanese joint venture will supply 90 of the world’s most powerful commercially available turbine, the V164-9.5 MW, for the project and has agreed on a comprehensive service and maintenance agreement for 5 years.
“With financial close now reached for Triton Knoll, the UK has again affirmed its position as the global leader in offshore wind. This means highly-skilled jobs in the local offshore wind sector,” said MHI Vestas CEO, Philippe Kavafyan. “In providing 90 of our flagship V164-9.5 MW turbines, MHI Vestas is proud to partner with Triton Knoll to leverage our UK industrial footprint, notably our production of blades already being successfully exported, and work with Able UK to develop the Seaton facility into a full-scale, pre-assembly site for this project.”
MHI Vestas has also confirmed, it will establish its wind turbine pre-assembly operations at Able UK’s Seaton Port in Teesside, ranging from enabling works to loadout. The company anticipates that its wind turbine pre-assembly operations will generate 40-50 local jobs, either directly or indirectly at supporting service businesses.
MHI Vestas, with an ambition to expand its industrial footprint in the UK, will manage all logistics and pre-assembly activity for the project. Turbine tower sections, blades and nacelles will be stockpiled and pre-assembled at Seaton, before being loaded on to construction vessels for transport and installation at the wind farm, 32 kilometres offshore.
Triton Knoll Project Director Julian Garnsey said it was an exciting day for the project: “We are delighted to be expanding the project’s UK footprint with MHI Vestas and to these two east coast ports. The subsequent investment in Able UK’s Seaton facility represents a great opportunity to enhance offshore wind port facilities within the Northern Powerhouse region.”
The news from MHI Vestas comes on the heels of its conditional order announcement for Moray East Offshore Wind Farm in Scotland and, more recently, that the company has hired wind industry veteran Julian Brown as UK Country Manager.
MHI Vestas Offshore Wind is a joint venture between Vestas Wind Systems A/S 50% and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) 50%. The company’s focus is to design, manufacture, install and service wind turbines for the offshore wind industry. The company aims to create sustainable value through offshore wind power by driving capital and operating savings and increasing the power output of wind turbines. An innovative force in offshore wind since its inception in 2014, the company is guided by its founding principles of collaboration, trust, technology and commitment. For more information, see www.mhivestasoffshore.com or follow @MHIVestas on Twitter.
innogy SE is a leading German energy company, with revenue of around €43 billion (2017), more than 42,000 employees and activities in 16 countries across Europe. With its three business segments Renewables, Grid & Infrastructure and Retail, innogy addresses the requirements of a modern, decarbonised, decentralised and digital energy world. Its activities focus on its about 22 million customers, in the key markets are Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Belgium, as well as several countries in Central Eastern and South Eastern Europe, especially the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland. In renewable power generation, the company is also active in other regions, e.g. Spain, Italy and the USA, with a total capacity of 3.9 gigawatts.
About Triton Knoll Offshore Wind Farm
• Turbines: 90 V164-9.5 MW turbines provided by MHI Vestas
• Pre-Assembly and logistics port: Able UK’s Seaton facility
• Location: 32 kilometres off the Lincolnshire coast
• Planned installed capacity: 860 MW, capable of supplying the equivalent of over 800,000 UK households per year with offshore wind energy
• Service: MHI Vestas, 5-year comprehensive service and maintenance agreement
Image: Courtesy of MHI Vestas Offshore Wind