RWE Commissions Triton Knoll Turbines

RWE has completed turbine commissioning at the 860MW Triton Knoll offshore wind farm in the UK North Sea.

The project is located 33 kilometres off the coast of Lincolnshire and once fully operational it will be one of the world’s largest offshore wind farms, generating sufficient electricity to meet the needs of around 800,000 homes each year.

Full operations of the 90 turbines, which stand at 164 meters, are expected in the first quarter of 2022.

Triton Knoll represents an investment of around €2.4bn that includes construction of the wind farm and the grid connection.

RWE has committed to investing €50bn gross through to 2030 to expand its green generation capacity to 50GW, with around €18bn earmarked for the UK.

The wind farm’s operations and maintenance base is also being expanded to become the new ‘Grimsby Hub’ facility, supporting both existing and future projects, RWE said.

This new facility has the potential to create around 60 new, local jobs and will enable RWE to strengthen its relationship with the region’s businesses and local communities by committing to a longer-term presence in the area, the developer added.

RWE offshore wind chief executive officer Sven Utermöhlen said: “Commissioning the final turbine at Triton Knoll is a huge achievement, especially during a global pandemic.

“It’s a great credit to the project team and to our supply chain partners that we have reached this milestone on time.

“The UK plays a key role in the delivery of RWE’s Growing Green strategy and Triton Knoll is currently one of the largest offshore wind project realized by RWE.

“We are driving forward up to 2.6 GW of new projects off the coast of the UK, in addition to the 1.4 GW Sofia Offshore Wind Farm as we are committed to supporting the UK government’s ambitious offshore wind targets.”

RWE project director Julian Garnsey said: “I am very proud of the Triton Knoll team’s achievement in completing the commissioning of the turbines on this nationally significant infrastructure project.

“The construction team has shown a huge amount of resilience in reaching this milestone.

“I want to thank our supply chain partners and all those that have worked so hard on our sites to keep the project on track, despite the many challenges posed by the coronavirus pandemic.”

Triton Knoll is jointly owned by RWE with a 59% stake, J-Power who holds 25% and Kansai Electric Power with 16%.

RWE led the wind farm’s development as well as construction and will also operate and maintain it on behalf of the project partners.