The innovative wind farm development that is taking place off of the coast of Blyth has got to a significant milestone in the process with the first turbine being brought across to be installed. The turbine is being transported up the River Tyne in order to be installed at its final destination on the Blyth development.
The Development is currently being carried out by EDF Energy Renewables and has been since taking control of the Blyth Offshore Demonstrator Wind Farm in October 2014 from Narec, or ORE Catapult as they are now known.
The development of the wind farm near Blyth will consist of five wind turbines that will be able to create up to 41.5 MW of power. The development is taking place approximately 6.5 km off the coast of Blyth and once the farm is up and running the wind turbines will be able to create enough low carbon electricity to be able to power an estimated 34,000 homes.
The Concrete gravity based foundations for the development are being installed using a float and submerge method. This is the first time this method of installation is being used for the construction. The wind farm design and installation work is being carried out by Royal BAM Group, with building work taking place in the Neptune dry dock on the Tyne before being floated out to their intended location and installed as part of the Blyth Wind Farm development. Each of the foundations that are being used on this project are made from more than 1,8000㎥ of concrete with a weight of in excess of 15,000 tonnes when they have been installed on the seabed. The height difference between the access platform and the base is 60 meters. After the foundations have been installed during the summer, the cables required for the farm will then be installed, before the turbines are fitted.
