The offshore converter station for ScottishPower Renewables’ biggest-ever windfarm, East Anglia 3, has taken to the water for the first time as it heads to Norway to complete its construction. Weighing in at several thousand tonnes, the seven-storey structure – which is 68 m long, 34 m wide and 44 m high – was sailed out from the Damen yard in Mangalia, Romania on board the heavy transport vessel, Bigroll Beaufort, on 25 April.
It is travelling a little over 3800 nautical miles to Aker Solutions’ fabrication yard in Stord, Norway where the HVDC equipment will be installed and commissioned in another ‘first’ for ScottishPower Renewables.
The massive structure – which will then weigh almost 10 000 tonnes – will be transported and installed in the southern North Sea next year ahead of the windfarm’s completion in 2026. Once operational, East Anglia 3 will, at 1.4 BW, be the second largest windfarm in the world and the biggest ever constructed across the whole of the Iberdrola Group.
