Iberdrola connects its East Anglia One offshore wind energy farm

Iberdrola has connected to the British power grid the East Anglia One offshore wind farm, which it builds in waters of the North Sea, about 50 kilometers off the coast of the English county of Suffolk, and whose commissioning is scheduled for next year.

Specifically, the first of its 102 wind turbines, called WTG E19, has already supplied wind power to the ground substation located in the town of Burstall. Its subsidiary ScottishPower Renewables, which has already installed 25 wind turbines at the site throughout this summer, will gradually connect them to the network.

With an investment of approximately 2,500 million pounds and covering an area of ??300 km2, East Anglia One is one of the most relevant wind energy projects under development in Iberdrola and the largest renewable initiative ever promoted by a Spanish company.

When it enters into operation in 2020, the wind power plant will be the largest in the world, with an installed capacity of 714 megawatts (MW), which will supply 630,000 British homes with wind energy.

The construction of East Anglia One is boosting the offshore wind energy industry in Europe, employing more than 1,300 people in several countries – Spain, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, the United Arab Emirates – and being key to several sectors, such as the naval.

The wind power project has had a great tractor effect in Spain, since Iberdrola has had the participation of local companies such as Navantia, Windar or Siemens-Gamesa for the development of a good part of the key components of the park.

Technical characteristics:

    102 Siemens Gamesa wind turbines make up the park, each with a capacity of 7 MW. Once installed they will have a total height of 167 meters.
    A marine substation (Andalusia II), manufactured by Navantia in Puerto Real (Cádiz), will be responsible for collecting the electricity produced by the wind turbines and transforming the voltage to be able to transfer it to the coast, which is responsible for two export cables in the bottom of the sea, each about 85 km.
    These cables join another six underground underground on land of about 37 km., From Bawdsey to a new land transformer in Burstall, which connects the offshore wind farm to the national grid.
    Of the 102 jacket-type foundations, Navantia has manufactured 42 in Fene (Spain) and Windar has built the piles in Avilés (Asturias). The other 60 foundations have been manufactured by Lamprell in the United Arab Emirates and Harland & Wolff in Belfast.