NEWS - WIND ENERGY
Siemens Gamesa Manufactures First Rotor Blade for Giant British Offshore Wind Farm Sofia
Swindon , UK - With the closure of the UK ’ s last coal-fired power station earlier this week and the end of UK coal-fired power generation , the expansion of offshore wind energy in the UK continues to gain momentum . An important milestone has now been reached at RWE ’ s Sofia offshore wind farm with the manufacture of the first British-made rotor blade .
The energy company RWE has presented the first rotor blade produced at the British Siemens Gamesa plant in Hull . Rotor blades of this type are to be installed on a total of 100 offshore wind turbines at RWE ’ s Sofia offshore wind farm . This marks an important milestone in the further realisation of the flagship project . Commissioning of the Sofia offshore wind energy project is planned for 2026 .
First rotor blade for Sofia offshore wind farm officially presented
RWE has now officially unveiled the first rotor blade manufactured at the Siemens Gamesa factory in Hull with a total length of 108 metres in the presence of Tom Glover , Country Chair of RWE UK , Darren Davidson , Vice President Siemens Energy UK & I and Siemens Gamesa UK , and Melanie Onn , Member of Parliament for Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes . Siemens Gamesa ’ s rotor blade factory in Hull is the largest manufacturing facility of its kind in the UK . The facility has been expanded to keep pace with the rapid growth of the offshore wind sector .
Construction work at sea for the RWE Sofia offshore wind farm began in autumn 2023 . The wind farm is located on the Dogger Bank , 195 kilometres off the north-east coast of the UK . A total of 100 Siemens Gamesa SG 14-222 DD wind turbines with a capacity of 14 MW each will be installed .
Recyclable rotor blades will be used in 44 of the 100 offshore turbines . When the Sofia offshore wind farm with a capacity of 1,400 MW ( 1.4 GW ) is fully operational , it will be able to generate as much wind power as around 1.2 million British households consume per year , according to RWE . Siemens Gamesa will manufacture , install and commission all 100 SG 14- 222 DD turbines . Each turbine will be 252 metres high and the 108-metre-long rotor blades will achieve a rotor diameter of 222 metres . Completion of the Sofia offshore wind farm is scheduled for the end of 2026 .
“ The potential for job creation within the renewable energy supply chain is enormous . Not just at companies like Siemens Energy , which manufactures the rotor blades for Sofia at its blade factory here in the UK , but across the entire supply chain . Sofia is a significant development for RWE in the UK and we are delighted to be able to maximise this investment to support important local coastal communities ,” said Tom Glover , Country President of RWE UK .
“ We are driving the energy transition at our offshore wind blade factory in Hull . We now employ over 1,300 people there , having taken on more than 600 new employees in the last 12 months . We are proud to be a key supplier to RWE for a number of projects in the UK , including the manufacture of the blades
for Sofia . It ’ s great to get this project underway and unveil the first blade ,” added Darren Davidson , Vice President of Siemens Energy UK & I .
Dogger Bank : Huge British offshore complex with up to 10,000 MW of wind power capacity to be built
The Sofia offshore wind farm is part of a huge offshore wind farm complex being built in the Dogger Bank area . The huge sandbank lies in the middle of the central to southern North Sea with relatively shallow water depths of between 18 and 63 metres .
Once all projects have been completed , the total output of the offshore wind turbines is expected to be 10,000 MW ( 10 GW ) according to the current planning status of the companies involved . In addition to the RWE Sofia project with a capacity of 1,400 MW , the Dogger Bank Complex A-C ( 3,600 MW ), which is being realised in three 1,200 MW sections by a joint venture between Equinor and SSE Renewables , is also under construction . The two companies are also planning the Dogger Bank D offshore project with a current capacity of 2,000 MW . Furthermore , RWE is developing the two Dogger Bank South projects in the region together with Masdar , which together are expected to have a capacity of around 3,000 MW .
The state of offshore wind energy in the UK
According to the government ’ s plans , the UK wants to achieve net zero emissions in all sectors of the British economy by 2050 . The country is focussing on a massive expansion of renewable energies , particularly offshore wind energy .
PNE AG Successful with 24 MW in Onshore Wind Energy Tenders
• Two new projects approved
• Successful tender results of the PNE Group already total 141.9 MW this year
Cuxhaven , 18 September 2024 – The PNE Group was again very successful in the tender round for onshore wind farms organised by the Federal Network Agency in August . Both wind farms submitted were awarded the contract . The wind energy projects ‘ Gnutz-Ost ’ and ‘ Helenenberg ’ have passed the current tender .
The ‘ Gnutz-Ost ’ wind farm with 3 wind turbines and a total output of 18 megawatts ( MW ) is being built in Schleswig- Holstein . In Rhineland-Palatinate , the PNE Group will construct the ‘ Helenenberg ’ wind farm with 1 wind turbine and an output of 6 MW . The wind farms have a total capacity of 24 MW . Both wind farms are scheduled to go into construction or operation in the course of next year .
Together with the February and May tenders , nine wind farms of the PNE Group with a total capacity of 141.9 MW have been awarded contracts this year .
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