UK Inaugurates Walney Offshore Wind Farms

Despite rough seas, commissioning proceeds at Walney wind farms.

Dong Energy has officially inaugurated the Walney offshore wind farms located in the East Irish Sea. The projects were recognized by Edward Davey, U.K.'s Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change. The process of commissioning the twin facilities is underway.

As of Feb. 20, Dong said 27 of 51 turbines in Walney 2 have been connected to transmission lines. The work is dependent on fair weather windows and requires a number of visits to a turbine and substation before each 3.6-megawatt turbine can be put into operation.

The vessel Tideway Rollingstone is at the site, about 15 kilometers west of Barrow-in-Furness in Cumbria, to install armor stones. Dong officials report that installation of the stones has almost been completed at Walney 1 and 10 positions have received the protective stones at Walney 2.

Earlier this month, work was delayed because of a fire on the vessel Pompei, that had been responsible for placing the stones. The Tideway Rollingstone has replaced the Pompei. The stones are placed in an roughly 1-meter-thick layer around each turbine foundation to prevent erosion.

The Walney wind farms have a combined generating capacity of 367.2 megawatts.

Photo shows Tideway Rollingstone installing armor stones at Walney 2. Courtesy of Dong Energy.