- Operations and Maintenance base will serve the windfarm for its 30-year lifespan
- Up to 100 long-term roles will be supported by the base
- The £25m investment will see hundreds of supply chain operators use the site
The state-of-the-art new operations and maintenance building for East Anglia’s largest offshore windfarm to date has officially opened its doors.
The agreement for the base to be constructed at Associated British Port’s Hamilton Dock on Lowestoft Port was announced in November 2015, when the site was just an area of scrub land on the edge of the port. Construction of the building began in July 2018, with the ground officially being broken by Waveney MP, Peter Aldous, and is part of a £25million investment made by ScottishPower Renewables into the Port of Lowestoft.
Today the site is the ‘home’ of the East Anglia ONE offshore windfarm, a joint venture between ScottishPower Renewables and Macquarie’s Green Investment Group (GIG), supporting the day-to-day operations including marine coordination, specialist offices and warehousing.
The operations and maintenance building will be the base for up to 100 full-time employees, including skilled engineers and technicians, for the 30-plus year lifespan of the windfarm. The site is already a hive of activity welcoming hundreds of contractors and supply chain operators, contributing substantially to the local economy.
Charlie Jordan, ScottishPower Renewables Project Director for East Anglia ONE, said: “Lowestoft is the home of East Anglia ONE, and to see the operations and maintenance building fully up and running really demonstrates that fact. It’s not just the base of operations for the windfarm, but a symbol of our long-term commitment to the region and our drive to grow the offshore wind industry in Lowestoft and East Anglia.
“In just 14 months, the construction team have turned an empty site on the Port of Lowestoft into a state-of-the-art establishment and we are grateful for all of the work which has made the base into what you see today. Most of the operations and maintenance team are based within a few miles of the site and have worked on other local windfarms, bringing with them great knowledge and expertise. This has allowed us to perfect design elements of the base, making it super-efficient and reinforcing the East of England’s leading position in the sector.
“With the windfarm due to be complete next year, the building is already buzzing with local employees and contractors all helping us to create clean, green energy to meet the UK’s carbon reduction targets.”
Waveney MP, Peter Aldous, said: “The opening of the East Anglia ONE operations and maintenance base is a big moment for Lowestoft and the wider Waveney area. It demonstrates a significant investment in our town. East Anglia ONE is providing important job opportunities for people locally and across the region, both offshore and onshore, as well as through the local supply chain.
“Lowestoft has a proud maritime heritage and the substantial growth of the offshore wind industry, particularly off the coast of East Anglia, will see more generations making a career out at sea. It is great to see Lowestoft leading the way in the UK’s offshore wind revolution.”
Ed Northam, head of GIG in the UK and Europe, said: “With first power recently being generated and now the opening of the operations and maintenance building, it’s great to see the long-term legacy of East Anglia ONE coming to fruition. This is testament to the hard work of the ScottishPower Renewables team and we look forward to celebrating more landmark moments as the project approaches completion.”
This is one in a series of milestones achieved recently for ScottishPower Renewables and East Anglia ONE as the project approaches completion, with the windfarm successfully producing first power on 12th September 2019.
Located 43km off the Suffolk coast, the £2.5 billion project could provide enough clean energy to power the equivalent of more than 630,000 homes annually*. It is 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
For further information please contact Tom Harvey at Pier Marketing
Tel: 01394 646 400 or email eaone@pier-marketing.com
Notes to the Editor
About East Anglia ONE
East Anglia ONE will see 102 wind turbines installed in the southern North Sea, approximately 30 miles off the coast. The overall investment will be 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 will include:
- Offshore wind turbines and foundations (102 wind turbines to provide an installed capacity of 714 megawatts).
- An offshore substation to collect the electricity from the turbines and transform it to a form suitable for transfer to shore.
- Two offshore export cables, each around 85 km in length, to transfer the electricity to shore.
- A landfall site with onshore transition pits to connect the offshore and onshore cables.
- Six onshore underground cables, each of around 37 km in length, to transfer the electricity from landfall to an onshore substation station.
- An onshore substation adjacent to the existing substation at Bramford, Suffolk, to connect the offshore windfarm to the National Grid.
*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)/3,781MWh (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 2,000 MW.
About Macquarie’s Green Investment Group
Green Investment Group Limited (GIG) is a specialist in green infrastructure principal investment, project delivery and the management of portfolio assets, and related services. Its track record, expertise and capability make it a global leader in green investment, dedicated to supporting the growth of the global green economy.
The business was launched initially by the UK Government in 2012 as the first institution of its type in the world. The organization was acquired by Macquarie Group in 2017, creating one of Europe’s largest teams of dedicated green infrastructure investors, and now operates under the name Green Investment Group.
Macquarie Group Limited (Macquarie) is a diversified financial group providing clients with asset management and finance, banking, advisory and risk and capital solutions across debt, equity and commodities. Founded in 1969, Macquarie employs 15,715 people in 30 markets. At 31 March 2019, Macquarie had assets under management of £305.8 billion. For further information, visit www.macquarie.com.