MHI Vestas and DONG Energy have confirmed that power is now flowing from the Walney Extension West offshore wind park’s first turbine installed 19 km off the coast of Cumbria, in the Irish Sea
Walney Extension West, with a maximum output of 330 MW, is the second offshore wind park to utilise MHI Vestas’ V164-8.0 turbines, following Burbo Bank Extension commissioned earlier this year off the coast of Liverpool in the UK. Once installed, the 40 wind turbines at Walney Extension West will supply enough clean energy to power more than 289,000 UK homes.
The MHI Vestas turbines, rated with a capacity of 8 MW, have been optimised and will deliver a maximum output of 8.25 MW, making Walney Extension West the first wind park to exceed 8 MW per turbine.
MHI Vestas Chief Operations Officer, Flemming Ougaard, said: “We are very happy to see installation at Walney Extension West starting well. With the first turbine now installed and producing power to the grid, we look forward to a good partnership with DONG Energy over the coming months as we continue installing the remaining 39 turbines.”
Andrew Cotterell, Walney Extension Programme Director at DONG Energy, stated: “We are delighted to have passed such an important milestone for the project. With the construction focus now off-shore we really appreciate the good progress we are making on the turbine installation of the West phase of Walney Extension together with MHI Vestas.”
MHI Vestas / SIlke Funke