Barrow Offshore Wind Farm

Barrow wind farm was a UK Round 1 wind farm development originally developed by Warwick Energy Limited.[1] A planning application was submitted in 2001,[2] and planning consent given in March 2003;[3] the project was sold to Centrica (25%, c.£22.5million), Ørsted A/S (then named DONG Energy) (37.5%), and Statkraft (37.5%) in Sep. 2003.[4][5] The estimated cost of developing the project was £100million, of which £10million was provided by a UK government grant.[5][6] In 2004 Centrica and Ørsted bought the Statkraft stake, forming a 50:50 joint venture in the development.[7]

The initial Warwick Energy proposal was for a 30 turbine wind farm 7 km southwest of Walney Island (Cumbria), with a generating capacity of up to 108MW; electrical power supply to the mainland was to be via a ~25 km long 132kV cable making groundfall near Heysham, with connection to the mainland electrical grid at an extension to an existing electricity substation south of Heysham nuclear power station.[8] Turbines were expected to have ~50m radius blades, with a 75m hub height, and be in water at a depth of ~20m, with a ~32.5m sub-sea bed monopile foundation; the turbines were to be spaced approximately 500m apart in four rows aligned to face the prevailing southwesterly winds, with a row spacing of ~750m.[9]

Offshore substation, with jackup ship and wind turbine in background (2006)

In July 2004 Kellogg Brown & Root Ltd and Vestas-Celtic Wind Technology Ltd were awarded the contract to install and commission the wind farm, and to operate the wind farm for 5 years.[10] A 30 turbine wind farm with a capacity of 90MW was constructed by the consortium between July 2005 and May 2006. The main construction base was at Harland and Wolff's shipyard in Belfast.[11] In exceptions where pile driving of monopile foundations failed, drilling was used to form the monopile foundations.[11][12]

IEC 1A class Vestas V90-3.0MW wind turbines were used, mounted on a 75m tower connected to 4.75 m (15.6 ft) monopiles supplied by a Sif/Smulders joint venture.[13] Turbine to offshore substation electric connection were at 33kV, with the voltage stepped up to 132kV at an offshore substation supplied by Areva T&D (transformer), Sif/Smulders (superstructure and monopile) and designed by KBR and Mott MacDonald. Cables were supplied by Prysmian (33kV) and Nexans (132kV).[14]

Construction of the wind farm was completed in June 2006 with the first power generated in March 2006.[15] The operator is Barrow Offshore Wind Limited, owned by Centrica and Ørsted.[1]

Since 2008 (to 2012) the farm operated at between 30 and 40% capacity factor, generating between 240 and 320 GWh of electrical energy per year.[16] Its levelised cost has been estimated at £87/MWh.[17]

In 2011 regulatory changes required Ørsted/Centrica to divest the electrical transmission assets of the wind farm, which were sold to TC Barrow OFTO Ltd. for £34 million.[18]

In 2014 Ørsted acquired Centrica's 50% holding in the wind farm.[19]

• Ormonde Wind Farm, Walney Wind Farm, West of Duddon Sands Wind Farm – other nearby wind farms in the Irish Sea
• List of offshore wind farms in the United Kingdom
• List of tallest buildings and structures in Barrow-in-Furness

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• "Barrow Offshore Wind Farm", engineering-timelines.com, retrieved 1 April 2014