ScottishPower Renewables, a subsidiary of Spanish utility Iberdrola, has awarded a contract to Siemens to supply turbines for the 714MW East Anglia One offshore wind farm in the UK.
Under the contract, Siemens will supply, install and commission 102 direct-drive wind turbines of type SWT-7.0-154 for the £2.5bn ($3.48bn) East Anglia ONE project, which is being built 43km from the Suffolk Coast.
Scheduled to be completed in 2020, the wind farm is expected to generate clean electricity to power around 500,000 British households.
Siemens Wind Power and Renewables Division offshore CEO Michael Hannibal said: "This represents the largest single order ever for our direct-drive, 7-megawatt wind turbine.
"The decision to go with our innovative wind turbines underscores the contribution made by these units to reducing the costs of offshore wind power."
Siemens, which will commence wind turbines installation in the summer of 2019, will also be responsible for servicing the wind farm for five years.
The Siemens will manufacture wind turbine blades at its Hull facility. The nacelles will be manufactured in Cuxhaven, Germany.
Expected to create 3,000 jobs during construction phase, the project will contribute to the UK Government’s aim to have over 10GW of installed offshore wind capacity by 2020.
Meanwhile, ScottishPower secured a guaranteed price of 119 pounds/megawatt hour (MWh) for the electricity produced at the wind farm under the government’s contracts-for-difference scheme.
ScottishPower Renewables CEO Keith Anderson said: "We have concluded Europe’s largest project-specific wind turbine agreement just a month after taking our final investment decision, and we have scaled the final hurdle by satisfying our CfD conditions with the Low Carbon Contracts Company."
Image: Installation of Iberdrola’s offshore wind farm. Photo: courtesy of Iberdrola.