| Westermost Rough Wind Farm | |
|---|---|
 Westermost Rough visible on the horizon, under construction in March 2015 | |
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| Country |
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| Location | 8 km (5 mi) north-east ofWithernsea,East Riding of Yorkshire |
| Coordinates | 53°49′N0°09′E / 53.81°N 0.15°E /53.81; 0.15 |
| Status | Operational |
| Construction began | 2014 |
| Commission date |
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| Owners | |
| Operator | |
| Wind farm | |
| Type | |
| Rotor diameter |
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| Site area | 35 km2 (14 sq mi) |
| Power generation | |
| Units operational | 35 × 6 MW |
| Make and model | Siemens Gamesa SWT-6.0-154 (35) |
| Nameplate capacity |
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| External links | |
| Commons | Related media on Commons |
Westermost Rough Wind Farm is an offshorewind farm 8 kilometres (5 mi) north east ofWithernsea off theHolderness coast, in theNorth Sea,England. The farm covers an area of approximately 35 km2 (14 sq mi) with a generation capacity of approximately 210 MW. It became operational in May 2015.
The Westermost Wind farm site was originally awarded toTotal in 2003 during the initialRound 2 wind farm tendering process; Total later withdrew and the concession was returned to theCrown Estate in 2006.[1] In 2007DONG Energy was awarded a lease fromThe Crown Estate to develop a wind farm at Westermost Rough.[2] The companyWestermost Rough Ltd was established 2007;[n 1] a subsidiary of DONG Energy.[3]
A planning application was submitted in November 2009,[4] and consent was given by theDepartment of Energy and Climate Change in 2011 for a development of up to 80 turbines of up to 245 MW power with a limit of 172 m (564 ft) turbine tip height, and 150 m (490 ft) rotor diameter, as well as associated onshore and offshore substations, cabling and other infrastructure.[5]
Initial expectations were for an earliest in service date of 2014,[4] in January 2013 construction of the wind farm was confirmed, with construction scheduled to start in 2014 with the farm operational by 2015.[6][7][8]
DONG Energy sold a 50% stake in the wind farm in equal parts to theGreen Investment Bank and toMarubeni Corporation for a total of £240 million; as part of the sale the two buyers committed to investing £500 million in the construction of the wind farm;[9] the two companies, through the joint companyWMR JV Investco Limited secured £370 million from lenders in August 2014 to fund the capital cost of the project.[10][11]
The wind farm is located 8 km (5 mi) off theHolderness coast, roughly northeast ofWithernsea.[n 2] The proposed design is for 35 to 80 turbines of between 3 and 7 MW power output, in an area of 35 km2 (14 sq mi), with a total installed capacity of up to 245 MW.[12]
The offshore substation design was subcontracted toRamboll,[13] with medium voltage turbine to offshore transformer submarine cables supplied byNexans.[14] High voltage 155 kV submarine export cables and 155/275 kV underground cables were contracted to be supplied fromLS Cable & System of Korea.[15][16] The cable landing point is to be nearTunstall, East Riding of Yorkshire, with anational grid connection made via the buried cables to a new substation atSalt End.[17]
The project was the first commercial use of gearless 6 MWSiemens Wind turbines;[18][19] 35 turbines were to be installed, giving a capacity of 210 MW.[20]Varde, Denmark basedTitan Wind Energy was contracted to supply towers, with tower foundations supplied byBladt Industries ofAalborg, Denmark.[21] The driven monopile foundations are 6.25 metres (20.5 ft) diameter with mass up to 800 t, with 425 t transition pieces.[22]
A dualDoppler radar system, (originally developed by the USNational Wind Institute,[23][24] and supplied by SmartWind Technologies, LLC.[25]) was used to measure high-density wind details over the large wind farm area, with the experiment supported by theCarbon Trust organisation.[26][27]
GeoSea was awarded the contract to install foundation piles in April 2013.[28] The first foundation pile was installed in February 2014.[29] In early 2014 residents ofWithernsea and the nearby area reported noise and vibration disturbance during the night time, attributed to piling at the wind farm site; by April 2014 an investigation by theMarine Management Organisation had found evidence of noise, but the results were not conclusive enough for it to act on.[30] Foundation installation was completed by May 2014,[31] and the offshore substation installed by June 2014.[32] Turbine installation was completed March 2015.[33]
The wind farm was commissioned and became operational in May 2015.[34] Itslevelised cost has been estimated at £121/MWh.[35]
In May 2015,Ofgem awarded preferred bidder status to own and operate the electrical transmission assets of the wind farm to Transmission Capital Partners;[36] in early 2016 the sale of the assets (TC Westernmost Rough OFTO Ltd.) to a consortium of Transmission Capital Partners Limited Partnership and International Public Partnerships Limited was completed.[37] In early 2016 CWind was given a 20-year contract to maintain the TC Westernmost Rough OFTO's electrical transmission assets.[38]
In 2017, DONG Energy rebranded themselves as Ørsted as the acronym for DONG Energy - Danish Oil & Natural Gas - was seen as inappropriate for a company which had divested its entire oil and gas operations and was building an energy portfolio that was approaching 100% renewable.[39]
LS Cable & System announced on the 5th the supply of 150kV level submarine cables, 150kV&275kV extra high-voltage underground cable and connection materials to a scale of 16 million Euros (approx. KRW 23 billion) to Dong Energy, [... to] be used in an offshore wind power generation complex to be built in Westermost Rough on the Southeastern Coast of the U.K. [...] the extra high-voltage underground cables will be used to transmit electric energy [...] to an inland transmission site.
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