Gunfleet Sands Offshore Wind Farm is a 172
MW wind farm about off the
Clacton-on-Sea
Clacton-on-Sea is a seaside town in the Tendring District in the county of Essex, England. It is located on the Tendring Peninsula and is the largest settlement in the Tendring District with a population of 56,874 (2016). The town is situated a ...
coast in the Northern
Thames Estuary
The Thames Estuary is where the River Thames meets the waters of the North Sea, in the south-east of Great Britain.
Limits
An estuary can be defined according to different criteria (e.g. tidal, geographical, navigational or in terms of salini ...
.
The 108 MW Gunfleet Sands 1 wind farm gained planning consent in 2003/4; in 2006 DONG Energy (now
Ørsted) acquired the project and submitted an application for a second 64 MW windfarm Gunfleet Sands 2 adjacent to the first, which received consent in 2008. Construction of both mounting
Siemens Wind Power
Siemens AG ( ) is a German Multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate corporation and the largest industrial manufacturing company in Europe headquartered in Munich with branch offices abroad.
The principal ...
SWT-3.6-107 turbines took place between 2008 and 2010.
In 2010 planning began on a demonstration project Gunfleet Sands 3, used to test Siemens' 6 MW wind turbine model; two such turbines were installed in 2013.
Gunfleet Sands 1 & 2
Gunfleet Sands 1 & 2 are 7 km southeast of
Clacton-on-Sea
Clacton-on-Sea is a seaside town in the Tendring District in the county of Essex, England. It is located on the Tendring Peninsula and is the largest settlement in the Tendring District with a population of 56,874 (2016). The town is situated a ...
,
Essex
Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...
; in water at depths of (given spring-to-neap tidal range of about 4.6 m); Gunfleet 1 consists of 30 turbines in a 5×6 array, whilst Gunfleet 2 consists of a 9×2 array adjacent, to the southeast; the installed capacities are 108 and 64 MW respectively. The average wind speed is at 60 m elevation.
The turbines connect to a 33 kV offshore substation, which steps up the transmission voltage to 132 kV; the export cable makes landfall at Holland Haven (next to
Holland-on-Sea
Holland-on-Sea is a seaside town in east Essex in England. Located south of the little village of Great Holland and directly north of Clacton-on-Sea, it has bus links to Walton-on-the-Naze and Clacton-on-Sea. It is a short coastal walk down the ...
), and underground cables connect it to the
National Grid at the Cooks Green substation.
Development
Such development near
Clacton-on-Sea
Clacton-on-Sea is a seaside town in the Tendring District in the county of Essex, England. It is located on the Tendring Peninsula and is the largest settlement in the Tendring District with a population of 56,874 (2016). The town is situated a ...
began in 1996 under Windmaster Developments; Windmaster was acquired by
Enron
Enron Corporation was an American energy, commodities, and services company based in Houston, Texas. It was founded by Kenneth Lay in 1985 as a merger between Lay's Houston Natural Gas and InterNorth, both relatively small regional companies. ...
in 2000, and passed to
General Electric
General Electric Company (GE) is an American multinational conglomerate founded in 1892, and incorporated in New York state and headquartered in Boston. The company operated in sectors including healthcare, aviation, power, renewable energ ...
(
GE Wind Energy
GE Wind Energy is a branch of GE Renewable Energy, a subsidiary of General Electric. The company manufactures and sells wind turbines to the international market. In 2018, GE was the fourth largest wind turbine manufacturer in the world.
History ...
) in 2002. A
Round 1 Round 1 may refer to:
* ''Round 1'' (EP), a 2011 EP by C-REAL
* "Round 1" (song), a 2010 song by Dalmatian
* ''Round 1'', an album by Eraser vs Yöjalka
* Round One Entertainment
, stylized as ROUND1, is a Japan-based amusement store chain. ...
concession for the development was awarded in 2001, and planning consents obtained in 2003/4.
In June 2006 a consent application and environmental statement was submitted to the
Department of Trade and Industry for permission to build and operate an extension (''Gunfleet Sands 2'') to the consented project: up to 22 further turbines with an additional capacity of 64 MW. In December 2006
DONG Energy
Dong or DONG may refer to:
Places
* Dong Lake, or East Lake, a lake in China
* Dong, Arunachal Pradesh, a village in India
* Dong (administrative division) (동 or 洞), a neighborhood division in Korea
Persons
*Queen Dong (1623–1681), princes ...
acquired the 100-megawatt "Gunfleet 1" project from GE.
A contract for 30
Siemens Wind Power
Siemens AG ( ) is a German Multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate corporation and the largest industrial manufacturing company in Europe headquartered in Munich with branch offices abroad.
The principal ...
3.6 MW turbines was signed in April 2007.
The application for Gunfleet Sands 2 rested with decision maker the
Department for Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform in June 2007,
who gave its permission the next year.
Construction
![Clacton Pier helter-skelter and Gunfleet wind farrm](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b3/Clacton_Pier_helter-skelter_and_Gunfleet_wind_farrm.JPG)
Construction began in 2008, with initial work including onshore infrastructure and cable installation.
A formal
groundbreaking
Groundbreaking, also known as cutting, sod-cutting, turning the first sod, or a sod-turning ceremony, is a traditional ceremony in many cultures that celebrates the first day of construction for a building or other project. Such ceremonies are o ...
ceremony was held in April 2008.
The first turbine was installed in April 2009.
MT Højgaard
MT Højgaard Group is one of the leading construction and civil engineering companies in the Nordic countries. The Group works with customers throughout Denmark and in multiple countries overseas. The company was founded in 2001, when Højgaard & ...
was contracted to instal the monopile foundations; work started in October 2008;
Sif
In Norse mythology, Sif (Old Norse: ) is a golden-haired goddess associated with earth. Sif is attested in the ''Poetic Edda'', compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional sources, and the ''Prose Edda'', written in the 13th century ...
supplied the monopiles and transition pieces, and
Smulders Smulders is a Dutch occupational surname. It is a compression of "des mulders", meaning "the miller's son". Notable people with this surname include:
* Ans Smulders (born 1951), Dutch artistic gymnast
* (1863–1934), Dutch composer, pianist and n ...
supplied the wind turbine foundations,
The cabling was supplied by
Prysmian
Prysmian S.p.A. is an Italian company with headquarters in Milan, specialising in the production of electrical cable for use in the energy and telecom sectors and for optical fibres. Prysmian is present in North America with 23 plants, 48 in Eur ...
,
Gunfleet Sands Offshore Wind Farm
Gunfleet Sands Offshore Wind Farm is a 172 MW wind farm about off the Clacton-on-Sea coast in the Northern Thames Estuary.
The 108 MW Gunfleet Sands 1 wind farm gained planning consent in 2003/4; in 2006 DONG Energy (now Ørsted) a ...
(LORC) ''Substations, Inter-Array & Export Cables'' Bladt Industries
Bladt Industries A/S is an international steel contractor specialising in large-scale and highly complex steel structures. Bladt Industries operate within three key areas of business providing steel solutions for the wind and renewable energy sec ...
constructed the offshore monopile substation superstructure,
with electrical equipment supplied by
Areva T&D
Areva S.A. is a French multinational group specializing in nuclear power headquartered in Courbevoie, France. Before its 2016 corporate restructuring, Areva was majority-owned by the French state through the French Alternative Energies and Atom ...
and
ABB Group
ABB Ltd. is a Swedish-Swiss multinational corporation headquartered in Zürich, Switzerland. The company was formed in 1988 when Sweden's Allmänna Svenska Elektriska Aktiebolaget (ASEA) and Switzerland's Brown, Boveri & Cie merged to create ...
.
Construction of the wind farm was delayed, due to cable layer Oceanteam going into administration in May 2009 and the breakdown of
liftboat
A liftboat is a self-propelled, self-elevating vessel used in support of various offshore mineral exploration and production or offshore construction activities. A liftboat has a relatively large open deck to accommodate equipment and supplies, a ...
''KS Titan 2''.
Electrical generation began in August 2009. The wind farm was fully operational by March 2010; the wind farm was formally opened on 15 June 2010 by Anders Eldrup (
DONG Energy
Dong or DONG may refer to:
Places
* Dong Lake, or East Lake, a lake in China
* Dong, Arunachal Pradesh, a village in India
* Dong (administrative division) (동 or 洞), a neighborhood division in Korea
Persons
*Queen Dong (1623–1681), princes ...
) and the UK's Energy Minister
Charles Hendry
Charles Hendry (born 6 May 1959 in Cuckfield, Sussex) is a British Conservative Party politician. Formerly the member of parliament for High Peak between the 1992 and 1997 general elections, he was returned as the MP for Wealden in 2001 ...
. Cost of the development was 4 billion Danish Kroner.
Large-scale development of British wind farms was enabled by their kickstart subsidies: set in 2010 at a long term rate of 1.20 Danish Kroner per
kWh, compared to about 0.50 Kroner (
Horns Rev 2
Horns Rev is an offshore wind farm in Danish waters in the North Sea.
The wind farm was built in three phases, the first coming online in 2002, the second in 2009 and the third in 2019.
Horns Rev 1, the first phase, was the first large-scale o ...
) in Denmark.
An operations and servicing center was built in
Brightlingsea
Brightlingsea is a coastal town and an electoral ward in the Tendring district of Essex, England. It is situated between Colchester and Clacton-on-Sea, at the mouth of the River Colne, on Brightlingsea Creek. At the 2011 Census, it had a popu ...
, Essex where a former boatyard stood.
Operational history
The wind farm produced between 450 and 520 GWh between 2010 and 2012, with a
capacity factor
The net capacity factor is the unitless ratio of actual electrical energy output over a given period of time to the theoretical maximum electrical energy output over that period. The theoretical maximum energy output of a given installation is de ...
of 31–35% (2011/12). Its
levelised cost
The levelized cost of electricity (LCOE), or levelized cost of energy, is a measure of the average net present cost of electricity generation for a generator over its lifetime. It is used for investment planning and to compare different methods ...
has been put at £122 per MWh.
The transmission assets were divested in July 2011 to ''TC Gunfleet Sands OFTO Limited'' due to regulatory change.
In September 2011
Marubeni Corporation
(, OSE: 8002, NSE: 8002) is a ''sōgō shōsha'' (general trading company) headquartered in Nihonbashi, Chuo, Tokyo, Japan. It is one of the largest ''sogo shosha'' and has leading market shares in cereal and paper pulp trading as well as a st ...
acquired a 49.9% shareholding of the farm for £200 million. In 2013 Marubeni divested part of its stake to the
Development Bank of Japan
is a Japanese development bank incorporated on 1 October 2008 under the Development Bank of Japan Inc. Law (Law No. 85 of 2007). Current ownership structure of DBJ is solely owned by the Government of Japan through the Minister of Finance
A ...
.
During the
St Jude storm of October 2013, wind speeds of were measured at the wind farm.
Gunfleet Sands 3
Ambit
A planning application for the ''Gunfleet Sands 3 - Demonstration Project (GFS 3)'' was submitted in 2010. The project consisted of a wind farm about 8.5 km southeast of Clacton. It was for testing new wind farm equipment ready for the
Round 3 wind farm
The United Kingdom is the best location for wind power in Europe and one of the best in the world. By 2022, the UK had over 11 thousand wind turbines with a total installed capacity of over 25gigawatts (GW): 14 GW onshore and 11 GW offshore, t ...
letting process. Two wind turbine installations were proposed.
The development required a separate export cable and grid connection to the prior farm; a planning application for the onshore electrical facilities and cabling was submitted in November 2011.
Suppliers
Inter-array and export cables (at 33 kV) were supplied by JDR Cables.
The monopile foundations and transition pieces were supplied by
Bladt Industries
Bladt Industries A/S is an international steel contractor specialising in large-scale and highly complex steel structures. Bladt Industries operate within three key areas of business providing steel solutions for the wind and renewable energy sec ...
and installed by
Ballast Nedam in 2012. Two Siemens 6MW turbines were installed in January 2013 by
A2SEA
A2SEA was an offshore wind farm installation and services company based in Fredericia, Denmark. The company specializes in transport, installation, and servicing of offshore wind farms.
In addition to Denmark, the company has subsidiaries in th ...
.
Productivity
The site began generating power in April 2013. A blade replacement took place in mid 2013 after one of the tips was damaged. The facility was officially opened on 12 September 2013 by UK Energy Minister
Greg Barker
Greg Barker is an American filmmaker and producer. In 2011, ''The New York Times'' described Barker as “a filmmaker of artistic and political consequence.”
Previous films include '' Sergio'' (short-listed in 2010 for the Academy Award for B ...
.
See also
*
Wind power in the United Kingdom
The United Kingdom is the best location for wind power in Europe and one of the best in the world. By 2022, the UK had over 11 thousand wind turbines with a total installed capacity of over 25gigawatts (GW): 14 GW onshore and 11 GW offshore, t ...
*
List of offshore wind farms in the United Kingdom StrikeOpt
This is a list of offshore wind farms within the national maritime boundaries of the United Kingdom. The name of the wind farm is the name used by the energy company when referring to the farm; it is usually related to the name of the ...
*
*
List of offshore wind farms
This article lists the largest offshore wind farms that are currently operational rated by nameplate capacity. It also lists the largest offshore wind farms currently under construction, the largest proposed offshore wind farms, and offshore w ...
References
Sources
;Gunfleet 1 & 2
*
**
*
*
;Gunfleet 3
*
*
External links
{{South East powerstations
Thames Estuary
Offshore wind farms in the North Sea
Power stations in the East of England
Wind farms in England
Ørsted (company) wind farms
Round 2 offshore wind farms
Marubeni
2010 establishments in England
Energy infrastructure completed in 2010