New vessels arrive for foundation protection at Sheringham Shoal Offshore Wind Farm
19-04-2012
Keen observers of offshore activity at the Sheringham Shoal Offshore Wind Farm will notice the arrival of two new vessels, the ‘Jan Steen’ and the ‘HAM 602’ over the coming weeks. These two specialist vessels are undertaking the procedures to protect the foundations and the J-tubes which house the cabling at the base of each turbine.
The world needs more energy, and in future ever more of its energy supply will need to be obtained from renewable resources such as hydropower, waves and wind. With around 40% of the EU’s entire wind resources available in British waters, it makes sense to harness the wind.
The 317MW Sheringham Shoal Offshore Wind Farm, located between 17 and 23 kilometres off the coast of North Norfolk in the UK, is now under construction. When complete it will comprise 88 wind turbines and generate around 1.1TWh of green energy per annum. This is enough clean energy to power almost 220,000 British homes. Compared to fossil fuels that is a reduction of around 500,000 tonnes of CO² emissions every year.
The wind farm will be fully-operational by mid 2012.
Sheringham Shoal is owned equally by Statoil and Statkraft through joint-venture company Scira Offshore Energy Limited. Statoil is operator for the project during the development phase and Scira will be the wind farm operator. This project will draw on know-how from Statoil’s longstanding offshore activities and Statkraft’s expertise in relation to renewable energy.
