Triton Knoll offshore wind farm : RWE Renewables installs first turbine of 857MW project in North Sea

RWE Renewables, in late January 2021, announced the installation of the first of the 90 turbines at the 857MW Triton Knoll offshore wind farm in the UK North Sea.

The Triton Knoll offshore wind project is being built within the Greater Wash area, more than 32 kilometers off the coast of Lincolnshire. The offshore wind farm is expected to meet the power consumption needs of 800,000 plus UK households, once it becomes fully operational in the Spring of 2021.

The Triton Knoll wind farm will be equipped with v164-9.5MW turbines, which are being manufactured by MHI Vestas Offshore Wind at its blade facilities in Isle of Wight and Fawley in England.

RWE Renewables installs first turbine of 857MW Triton Knoll offshore wind farm, offshore UK. Photo courtesy of RWE.

RWE Renewables stated: “The 9.5MW turbines are amongst the most powerful operating anywhere in the world, and capable of energizing a typical UK household for more than 29 hours with just a single turn of the blades.

“Each turbine has a greater swept area than the London Eye (turbine 187m, London Eye 120m), and measures 187 meters from the base of the tower to the tip of the blades.”

MHI Vestas and Triton Knoll had established a specialist turbine pre-assembly and construction base at Able Seaton Port in Teesside, England. The base is handling all the blades, nacelles, and tower sections of the Triton Knoll offshore wind farm.

DEME is performing the installation of the Triton Knoll turbines using the Wind Osprey jack-up vessel, which was provided by Cadeler.

RWE Renewables, a subsidiary of German energy company RWE, has a stake of 59% stake in the Triton Knoll offshore wind farm. The company has been responsible for the construction and operation of the offshore wind project on behalf of its Japanese partners – J-Power and Kansai Electric Power, which hold stakes of 24% and 16%, respectively.