Carefully does it! Wind turbine slots into place off Barrow

First turbine installed at Ormonde Offshore Wind Farm.

Nacelle lift- Tony West photography

Turbines and towers, destined for Vattenfall’s Ormonde Offshore Wind Farm arrived at Harland and Wolff in Belfast in mid January from Cuxhaven in Germany. The turbines and towers were unloaded by Harland and Wolff personnel and stored ready for pre-assembly and delivery to the wind farm, 10 kilometres off Barrow-in-Furness. Eventually 30 wind turbines are being pre-assembled at the yard in the shadow of its mighty cranes, Samson and Goliath´.

Harland and Wolff is being used for its logistics and assembly services and David Hodkinson, UK Country Manager for Vattenfall, said: "We are delighted that Vattenfall's Ormonde offshore wind project is supporting employment at Harland and Wolff's facility in Belfast and we are looking to working with them to deliver this part of the project safely and cost effectively. The delivery of the towers and turbines is not only an important development for our project, but also underlines Vattenfall’s commitment to work with suppliers to strengthen the UK supply chain for the offshore wind sector, which will underpin the delivery of the planned large scale expansion of offshore wind around the UK coast."

He added: “We are pleased that the construction programme is on schedule and we look forward to the first power being generated in the early summer”.

Vattenfall hails a world class engineering achievement with the installation of one of the world’s largest offshore wind turbines.

First Turbine - Tony West Photography

The 153 metre wind turbine, weighing in at 661 tonnes, was the first of 30 to be installed in the coming months at the Ormonde Offshore Wind Farm. At night on the 22 March the REpower 5M 5 megawatt (MW) wind turbine was installed by the crew of the SeaJack, the specially designed wind turbine installation vessel, and a team of Vattenfall and REpower engineers.

Vattenfall’s Project Manager for Ormonde Matthew Green said: “Safely and carefully installing a 661 tonne, 153 metre wind turbine, in the Irish Sea is a world class engineering achievement. I would like to thank everyone on the project for their professionalism as we now look to make good progress towards completing the project in 2011.”

He added: “The efficient installation of these wind turbines, some of the most powerful ever installed, has required us to make advances in the way we transport them to site. Never before have two turbines of this scale been assembled and then transported in a single trip and we are very proud of this achievement.”