Triton Knoll wind farm poised for offshore construction

During 2020, the project team will aim to install 90 bespoke monopile foundations and transition pieces, along with two high-tech offshore substation platforms (OSPs) and their foundations, as well as over 600 kilometres of sub-sea export and array cables.

The vessel fleet that will carry out the installation has already begun to mobilise and will look to install the first foundations as soon as the weather conditions are favourable.

Julian Garnsey, project director for Triton Knoll and innogy, said:

“We are looking forward to a busy year installing Triton Knoll’s innovative foundations and offshore substation platforms, further demonstrating innogy’s continued commitment towards ever more sustainable electricity generation for consumers.”

Triton Knoll Offshore Wind Farm is a state-of-the-art 857MW  offshore wind farm, located over 32 kilometres off the Lincolnshire coast, with a turbine array that covers an area of 145 square kilometres, bigger than the City of Manchester.

A fleet of vessels, many operating out of Grimsby’s Royal Dock, will support the construction of the wind farm. The offshore fleet will be dominated during 2020 by the 183 metre long installation vessel Seaway Strashnov, as well as the high-tech Service Operation Vessel (SOV) ‘Esvagt Froude’.

Within the month, the 83 metre long SOV will first visit Triton Knoll’s newly constructed Grimsby port facilities, where all offshore construction activity and longer-term operations and maintenance will be coordinated. The SOV supports the project’s specialist construction team and will regularly enter the port to change crews and re-stock supplies.

East coast and UK firms like Specialist Marine Consultancy (SMC), Seacat, Hull’s Precision Marine Survey Ltd and Carlbom Shipping Ltd, will also play key roles in supporting the offshore activities in 2020.

Construction of a multi-million pound turbine pre-assembly base at Teesside’s Able Seaton Port will get underway in the new year, equipping the port for the first time to be able to host the assembly and installation of turbines, with first components due to arrive the later this year.

Onshore, significant progress was made during 2019 to construct the project’s onshore electrical system, which consists of a 57km underground onshore export cable, a new landfall connection and purpose-built Triton Knoll Onshore Substation. Construction is due to finish in 2020 and will ensure the project is all set to transmit power, via the Offshore Substation Platforms which were mechanically completed in 2019, into the national grid network and ultimately over 800,000 UK homes.

In 2021, the focus of construction will shift to the installation and energisation of the powerful 9.5MW turbines, with Triton Knoll anticipating the first electricity to flow from the wind farm into the UK National Grid later that year.