ScottishPower Renewables (SPR) and Associated British Ports (ABP) have awarded contracts valued in the region of GBP 10 million for development work at the Port of Lowestoft to support the East Anglia ONE offshore wind farm.
Lowestoft will be the home of SPR’s GBP 2.5 billion offshore wind farm, and in order to develop a new operations and maintenance base the company is leasing land adjacent to Hamilton Dock from ABP.
SPR has now appointed NRS Group to design and construct the operations and maintenance building at the site, which will include specialist offices and warehousing. The new building will help to support the offshore phase of construction work on the wind farm, as well as the 30-plus years operational lifespan of the project.
At the same time, ABP is constructing pontoons and some land-side utilities to enable crew transfer vessels to operate from Hamilton Dock. ABP have engaged McLaughlin & Harvey to design and construct the facilities.
“Lowestoft is going to be the home of our windfarm for the next three decades, so it is pleasing to see construction work underway at the Port,” Charlie Jordan , ScottishPower Renewables Project Director for East Anglia ONE, said.
”The new facility will be a hive of activity for engineers and technicians, and the base for our marine operations to support the day-to-day operations of the windfarm. In total around 100 people will be employed full-time at the port when East Anglia ONE is completed, and the thousands of contractors and supply chain operators using the site every year will contribute substantially to the local economy.”
The 714MW East Anglia ONE is located 43km off the Suffolk Coast in the UK’s southern North Sea waters and will comprise 102 Siemens 7MW wind turbines set to be fully-commissioned in 2020.