EOWDC 8.8MW turbine installation

The turbine is the first of 11 to be deployed at the facility in Aberdeen Bay and one of two 8.8MW turbines. MHI Vestas custom-designed the V164-8.8 MW turbines and nine V164-8.4 MW turbines, which all have a tip height of 191m. Each blade is 80m long and the 164m rotors have a circumference larger than that of the London Eye’s.

EOWDC project director at Vattenfall, Adam Ezzamel, said: “The first turbine installation is a significant achievement and credit to the diligence and engineering know-how of the project team and contractors. For it to be one of the 8.8MW models makes it an even more momentous moment because it further endorses the EOWDC as a world-class hub of offshore wind innovation.”

Commercial first

This is the first time an 8.8 MW model has been deployed commercially in the offshore wind industry. Together with the nine 8.4 MW turbines, this boosts the EOWDC’s output to 93.2MW, allowing the facility to produce the equivalent of more than 70% of Aberdeen’s domestic electricity demand and annually displace 134,128t of CO2.

The turbines are being transported from Esbjerg to Aberdeen by Swire Blue Ocean’s Pacific Orca, where they will be lifted into position on the installed foundations.

Stephanie Conesa, policy manager at Scottish Renewables, commented: “Scotland is home to approximately 25% of Europe’s offshore wind resource and projects like Vattenfall’s European Offshore Wind Deployment Centre in Aberdeen promise to harness this potential on a massive scale.”

By Rebecca Jeffrey