Robin Rigg offshore wind farm is switched on

The 180 megawatt wind farm, owned by E.ON UK – part of the German energy giant E.ON Group – will be one of the largest in the UK. It consists of 60 turbines and will eventually produce enough power for almost 120,000 homes and displace the emission of 235,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide annually.

Ian Johnson, Robin Rigg project manager, said: "This is fantastic news. There's still a long, long way to go but, with the weather looking good for the next few days, we'll be looking to start the commissioning process very soon and to get a lot more turbines turning. It should be quite a sight with all the boats out there and more and more turbines starting to turn."

Robin Rigg’s 60-80 metre tall turbines, in the Solway Firth are supported on foundations which extend 30-40 metres into the sea bed. Each has a generation capacity of 3 MW.

The turbines are connected to offshore substations by sub-sea cable and these substations are then connected to the local electricity distribution system via two 132 kilovolt cables. These cables come ashore near Seaton, Cumbria, where they they then travel approximately two kilometres inland to a new onshore substation.

The turbine foundations were delivered directly to the offshore site from Belgium and the wind turbines were assembled in Belfast and delivered to the offshore site for installation.

E.ON has utilised local Cumbrian ports in Maryport, Workington and Whitehaven to support offshore construction activities, with The Port of Workington selected as the base for the operation and maintenance of the wind farm for its 20-year life.

Johnson commented earlier on the wind farm’s Cumbrian connection: “We’re committed to being a good neighbour and we’re looking forward to building on our strong relationship with the community. This is an exciting project and one we feel that local people can take great pride in because it will make such a big contribution in the effort to prevent global warming.”