E.ON said that it has commissioned all the 116 turbines of the 400MW Rampion offshore wind farm, which is being built with an investment of around $1.8bn in the English Channel in UK.
Image: The Vestas V112-3.45MW turbines at the Rampion offshore wind in the English Channel. Photo: courtesy of E.ON SE.
The German utility said that all the 116 Vestas V112-3.45MW turbines, which have a hub height of 84m and a height of 140m to blade tip, have started to feed renewable energy into the grid.
E.ON, in a statement, said: “Further work will have to be completed in the coming months before the substations on land and at sea, for example, can be fully commissioned.”
The UK offshore wind farm will generate 1,400GWh of clean electricity per annum which can meet the power consumption needs of 350,000 households while offsetting 600,000 tonnes of carbon emissions per annum.
The electricity produced by the wind turbines of the Rampion offshore wind farm will be transported to an offshore 33kV substation through array cables of a total of 140km that are buried underneath the seabed.
From the offshore substation, the power is then transmitted by two 16km export cables that reach the shore at the beach near Brooklands Pleasure Park in Lancing.
Offshore construction on the Rampion wind farm had commenced in 2016 with the first of the turbines commissioned in November 2017. E.ON expects the offshore wind farm to be completed by the year end.
Located 13km off the Sussex coast, the Rampion offshore wind farm is majority owned by E.ON (51%). Canadian energy firm Enbridge owns a stake of 24.9% while the remaining 25% stake is owned by a consortium of Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS), Macquarie European Infrastructure Fund 5 and Green Investment Group owned by Macquarie.
E.ON is also responsible for operations and maintenance services of the Rampion offshore wind farm and will also provide energy management services.