DONG Energy held a special supply chain event held in Barrow-in-Furness today to help local businesses get involved in the delivery of the 660MW Walney Extension offshore wind farm, to be built off the Cumbrian Coast.
DONG Energy’s Walney Extension project team and key suppliers to the project presented to a full house at the town’s Forum Theatre. The event was run with support from the Furness Economic Development Forum.
Onshore construction has already begun for Walney Extension offshore wind farm which will be located approximately 19 kilometres off the Cumbrian coast, next to the Walney and West of Duddon Sands offshore wind farms. When completed, the wind farm will be capable of supplying the electricity needs of over 460,000 UK homes.
“DONG Energy is absolutely committed to investing in the UK and, with construction gathering pace, we see today’s event as a great opportunity for businesses and stakeholders across the region to learn more about the opportunities which the Walney Extension project will offer,” Programme Director for Walney Extension Andrew Cottrell said.
“A number of key components – such as foundation transition pieces and turbine blades – are being sourced here in UK and we now hope to see our large suppliers building on this by focussing on UK content wherever possible.”
Speakers at today’s event included Jackie Arnold CBE, Vice Chair of the Cumbria LEP and representatives of suppliers including CT Offshore, MHI Vestas, Siemens Wind Power, Sea Jacks and Van Oord.
“The UK leads the world in the deployment of offshore wind and Cumbria is right at the heart of this growing industry which is helping the transformation to a low carbon economy,” Jackie Arnold said.
“Walney Extension will on completion become the world’s biggest offshore wind farm and local businesses have a great opportunity to get involved as this project moved from the drawing board to become a vital part of the country’s energy infrastructure.”
Based on the formal permits and timetable for the Walney Extension offshore wind farm, offshore construction of the wind farm could potentially start in 2016. However, DONG Energy has not taken a final investment decision to build the offshore wind farm.