Today sees the day that offshore construction begins on RWE’s 1.4GW Sofia Offshore Wind Farm.
Cable contractor Prysmian and their high-tech Leonardo da Vinci vessel lay the first section of HVDC export cable, ready for it to transport electricity back to the UK coast.
Sofia Offshore Wind Farm is located on Dogger Bank, 195 kilometres from the nearest point on the UK’s northeast coast, and will have a single offshore converter platform, with the electricity generated transported to landfall 220 kilometres away in Redcar, Teesside.
The wind farm will use 100 Siemens Gamesa 14MW offshore wind turbines (44 of them being equipped with recyclable blades) and is scheduled for completion in 2026.
This is an extremely significant milestone for the project with Sofia representing more than £3billion investment in the UK’s energy infrastructure. The wind farm will make a great contribution towards the country’s net zero targets and be capable of generating to almost 1.2 million typical UK homes.
RWE Offshore Wind CEO, Sven Utermöhlen said: “Sofia is RWE’s largest renewable construction project to date, and its furthest from shore. The project is setting new standards in terms of addressing innovation, sustainability, and engineering challenges. The laying of the first section of export cable represents the culmination of 13 years of planning, preparation, and diligence, as well as a huge amount of support from suppliers and stakeholders alike. Building a project of this size and scale is a great opportunity to demonstrate our expertise in delivering offshore wind energy around the globe.”
A big milestone for the team at RWE, we look forward to seeing the continuous success of the development!
Further Information
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