- Student granted first sight of Galloper turbines taking shape
- innogy leading construction of the 336MW project
- Siemens components arriving at Great Yarmouth harbour
An engineer of the future has been given a close-up look at the energy of the future on a Norfolk quayside.
Student Ben Hutchinson, 16, was shown how turbines for the new Galloper Offshore Wind Farm are being assembled, on a VIP tour of the Siemens turbine assembly base at Peel Ports, Great Yarmouth.
Ben, a student at Oundle School, near Peterborough, plans to study engineering at university and was keen to go behind the scenes of the £1.5bn project.
He asked for a visit to the base where 56 turbine towers measuring 90m tall, along with 600-tonne nacelles and 70m blades will be assembled before being sailed to the site 30km off the Suffolk coast.
Ben, of Denver, West Norfolk, said: “My grandfather was a civil engineer which has partly sparked my interest in renewables engineering.
“Seeing the turbines up close was amazing – the scale of the parts and the collaboration between all the different people on such a big project is really impressive. This visit, which the Galloper and Siemens team have kindly hosted, will help me focus on the type of engineering I wish to pursue in the future.”
The assembly team on-site bolt together the three sections of each turbine column, and add the switch gear, plus a top cover, ready to be installed on to the foundations. About 65 people are working at the pre-assembly yard on 12-hour 7am to 7pm shifts.
Galloper site manager, Peter Scott- Andrews said: “We hope that Ben will be an ambassador for us and our industry. It’s superb to meet young people with an interest in engineering and the renewables industry, and particularly warming that Ben’s interest was sparked from his own Grandfathers career and expertise!
He added: “It’s been a fantastic week of education and careers events along the east coast. Some of the team also had the privilege of taking part in the successful Skills Conference organised by Orbis Energy and hosted at East Point Academy in Lowestoft. Around 450 school pupils attended to learn more about the offshore renewables sector as a potential careers pathway.”
Galloper commissioned a film of the Skills Conference which has been launched today: https://vimeo.com/211488919
Construction of the Galloper project, whose 6MW turbines will generate enough power for up to 336,000 homes1, is being led on behalf of the project partners by innogy SE. The wind farm will be operational by spring 2018.
ENDS
Picture caption (credit TMS Media):
Student Ben Hutchinson and Galloper site manager Peter Scott-Andrews see the Siemens 6MW turbines at close quarters.
Notes to editor
Galloper Offshore Wind Farm is an extension of the existing and fully operational Greater Gabbard Wind Farm off the coast of Suffolk. The wind farm represents an expected investment potential of around £1.5 billion. It is estimated that the average annual generation expected at the site will be equivalent to the approximate domestic needs of around 336,000 average UK households . Following Financial Close of the project in October 2015 the GWFL project announced the equal joint equity partnership of 25% each between RWE Innogy UK (now innogy SE), UK Green Investment Bank, Siemens Financial Services and Macquarie Capital.
About innogy SE
innogy SE is Germany’s leading energy company, with revenue of around €44 billion (2016), more than 40,000 employees and activities in 16 countries across Europe. With its three business segments Grid & Infrastructure, Retail and Renewables, innogy addresses the requirements of a modern, decarbonised, decentralised and digital energy world. Its activities focus on its 23 million customers, and on offering them innovative and sustainable products and services which enable them to use energy more efficiently and improve their quality of life. The key markets are Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Belgium, as well as several countries in Central Eastern and South Eastern Europe, especially the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland. In renewable power generation, the company is also active in other regions, e.g. Spain, Italy and the MENA region (Middle East, North Africa), with a total capacity of 3.7 gigawatts. As a leader of innovation in future-oriented fields like eMobility, we are represented in the international hot-spots of the technology industry such as Silicon Valley, Tel Aviv, London and Berlin. We combine the extensive expertise of our energy technicians and engineers with digital technology partners, from start-ups to major corporates. With planned capital investments of around €6.5- €7.0 billion (2017-2019), we are building the power market of the future and driving forward the transformation of the energy market.
innogy was formed from the restructuring of the RWE Group and started operations on 1 April 2016. Its IPO in October 2016 made innogy SE Germany’s most valuable energy company.
innogy is colourful, flexible and full of energy – let’s innogize!
Renewables
With an installed capacity of more than 900 megawatts in offshore wind and with over 1900 megawatts in onshore wind, innogy is one of the major operators in Europe. We plan, build and operate plants to generate power and extract energy from renewable sources. Our aim is to take the expansion of renewables in Europe further in the short term, both on our own and working with partners. We believe that working together in this way is the key to making the energy transition a success. Currently, we are particularly strongly represented in our home market, Germany, followed by the United Kingdom, Spain, the Netherlands and Poland. At the moment we are focusing on continuing to expand our activities in onshore and offshore wind power. We are also looking at entering new markets and technologies, such as large-scale photovoltaic plants.