Electricity has been generated for the first time at DONG Energy’s Race Bank offshore wind farm, located off the North Norfolk coast. With the initial turbines installed, power from the first turbine is now being exported to the national grid.
Race Bank, which will consist of 91 Siemens 6MW turbines in total, will include the first-ever wind turbine blades manufactured at the Siemens blade factory in Hull (the blades are expected to be installed later in the year).
About two thirds (around 180) of the blades at Race Bank will come from the Hull factory.
Klaus Skoust Moller, Race Bank programme director at DONG Energy (
www.dongenergy.com), said: “I'm delighted we’ve reached first power at Race Bank.
This is an important milestone, proving that every part of the transmission and generating equipment at the wind farm is working successfully. Construction is progressing well and on schedule.”
Once all 91 turbines are installed, Race Bank will be capable of generating 573MW of electricity — sufficient to meet the electricity demands of over half a million UK homes.
The construction of Race Bank is being managed from DONG Energy’s construction base in Grimsby Fish Docks.
Last year, the company announced plans for a multi-million-pound investment in Grimsby to create the UK’s largest offshore wind operations and maintenance hub, which will serve Race Bank once it becomes fully operational.