A landmark shipment of giant wind turbine blades and components for the fast-growing global wind energy market sailed from the ABP Port of Southampton for Australia late last month.
A total of 69 sleek aerodynamic blades, each measuring over 31m long and weighing seven tonnes, were loaded onto the MV Aleksandrov destined for the Port of Adelaide in Australia.
Due to arrive just before Christmas, they will be used to build the Starfish Hill Wind Farm south of Adelaide. Once completed, the wind farm will provide enough renewable electricity to power 23,000 homes.
The shipment of blades is the largest of its type ever handled at the Port of Southampton but by no means the first. Southampton is the UK's biggest export hub for such cargo. The blades and components are manufactured by NEG Micon Rotors, one of the world's largest producers of wind turbines, at its dedicated UK manufacturing plant on the Isle of Wight. The blades are then taken across the Solent and up Southampton Water on a purpose-designed motorised barge to await shipment.
Close co-operation between NEG Micon Rotors and Associated British Ports has enabled blades export all over the world at competitive rates, thus establishing the Isle of Wight as the centre of the UK renewables industry.
MJ Information No: 17602
