Offshore wind
27 July 2020
All 102 turbines, situated 43km off the Suffolk coast, are now fully operational and have the capacity to produce 714 MW of clean power, enough to power the equivalent of more than 630,000 homes.
Around 20 per cent of the turbine installation and around half the turbine connection work was completed during lockdown, with ScottishPower Renewables and its project partners transforming how they worked to get the job done. This included switching to a higher number of smaller vessels, creating crew ‘households’ who lived and worked together at all times, introducing new welfare protocols and minimising crew changes.
This comprehensive approach allowed the project to be completed on time, creating a source of vital green energy to keep homes, businesses and communities powered during the crisis and beyond. East Anglia ONE will now play a major part in contributing to the UK’s target of meeting Net Zero by 2050.
In addition to the significant impact the windfarm will have on the UK’s low carbon future, East Anglia ONE’s achievement and ambition will continue far beyond energy power. The site has already brought major benefits to the local economy, regional jobs market and wider UK supply chain.
Almost 3,500 jobs were sustained during the construction phase, which began in 2017, while 100 long-term skilled jobs have been created at the operations and maintenance base in Lowestoft.
ScottishPower Renewables co-invested £5 million in Peel Ports Great Yarmouth to prepare it for construction and marshalling activity. Over the course of the project, more than half of the project’s supply chain has come from the UK market, exceeding the commitments made as part of its successful bid for Contract for Difference funding.
ScottishPower Renewables has placed East Anglia at the centre of its ambitious skills strategy, engaging with more than 3,000 pupils across the educational spectrum – including sponsorship of ten engineering masters at the University of East Anglia – and the development of ScottishPower Renewables’ first-ever apprenticeship programme.
The two new apprentices will be based at East Anglia ONE’s state-of-the-art new operations and maintenance building at Hamilton Dock, Lowestoft; a key part of a £25million investment made by ScottishPower Renewables into the port. The apprentice recruitment drive comes on the back of the offshore wind industry target announced in March to employ 3,000 new apprentices across the industry by 2030.
Charlie Jordan
East Anglia ONE Project Director at ScottishPower Renewables
Edward Northam
Head of GIG Europe
The completion of this project brings the total capacity of UK offshore wind supported by Macquarie and GIG to over 5.7 GW, across 14 projects.
Andrew Elmes
East Anglia ONE Senior Project Manager at Siemens Gamesa
East Anglia ONE, a joint venture between ScottishPower Renewables and Macquarie’s Green Investment Group (GIG), is a £2.5 billion project and the first of four offshore windfarms ScottishPower Renewables is developing in the region. For more information about East Anglia ONE visit: www.spreastanglia.co.uk.
Media enquiries
For further information please contact Kate Bowden Smith at Pier Marketing
Tel: 01394 646 400, Mob: 07808 901387 or email eaone@pier-marketing.com.
About East Anglia ONE
East Anglia ONE comprises 102 wind turbines installed in the southern North Sea, approximately 30 miles off the coast of Suffolk. The overall investment is in the region of £2.5 billion, and the project is planned to meet the annual electricity demands of the equivalent of over 630,000 homes*.
East Anglia ONE Offshore Windfarm project includes:
*Based on the following calculation: 714 MW (installed capacity) x 0.3836 “offshore wind” average load factor (Digest of UK Energy Statistics) x 8,766 hours (hours per year)/3,781 MWh (average domestic annual consumption) = 634,997 homes powered equivalent
About ScottishPower Renewables
ScottishPower Renewables is part of Iberdrola, a world leader in clean energy with an installed capacity of over 28,000MW, and the leading wind energy producer worldwide.
Responsible for progressing Iberdrola’s wind energy projects in the UK, ScottishPower Renewables also manages the development, construction and operation of offshore windfarms throughout the world and currently has 40 operational windfarm sites producing over 2,000MW.