Construction planning for the Greater Gabbard offshore wind farm

摘要

At 504 megawatts, once constructed, Greater Gabbard will be the largest offshore wind farm in the world. The project is being built by Fluor Limited for Greater Gabbard Offshore Winds Ltd, a 50:50 joint venture partnership between Airtricity and npower renewables, the UK fully owned subsidiary of RWE Innogy. Scottish and Southern Energy pic (SSE), parent company of Airtricity, will act as the operator of the project during construction and the subsequent operational phases. This paper was written in May 2009 just as offshore installation activities on Greater Gabbard were due to commence and describes the construction planning phase and some of the lessons which may benefit future projects. It is also pertinent to note that in April 2009 the UK Government announced further incentives designed to bolster investment in offshore wind farms. With an approximate existing total capacity of 3.3GW and an estimated EU target of 33GW for all UK wind by 2020, it is likely that offshore wind will provide a significant stream of projects for UK Civil Engineering.