Installation of the wind turbines at Race Bank first began in May 2017 and following successful completion of the 240-hour acceptance tests of all 91 turbines, and the 200-hour test of the full park, the project is now capable of generating its full capacity of 573 megawatts (MW). During the commissioning process of the final turbines, Race Bank also passed 1 terawatt hour (TW-h) of production since construction began.
David Summers, Project Director for Race Bank at Ørsted UK, said:
“Full power and 1 terawatt hour of production are two fantastic milestones and have been achieved by the hard work and dedication of a significant number of people. Full power means that Race Bank can now produce enough green energy to power over half a million UK homes.
“Not only have we achieved full power on schedule, but we have also done so safely, without compromising our high standards. I now look forward to completing final activities on Race Bank and being able to officially open the project in the summer.”
Race Bank uses Siemens Gamesa 6MW wind turbines and many of these turbines feature the first blades to be manufactured at the Siemens Gamesa blade factory in Hull.
Race Bank will be Ørsted’s first offshore wind farm to use a new Service Operation Vessel (SOV) for operations and maintenance (O&M). The SOV can remain out at sea with the O&M team for up to 28 days at a time, and will greatly improve the efficiency of maintaining the project.
A team based in Grimsby will be responsible for carrying out this O&M work for the lifetime of Race Bank.
