Blyth Offshore Wind Farm


Blyth Offshore Wind Farm was a small coastal wind farm located off the coast of Blyth, Northumberland, England.

History

Commissioned in December 2000 as a pilot project, the project was developed by a consortium that included E.ON, Shell Renewables, NUON and Border Wind. E.ON were in charge of operating the farm.
The project was the UK's first offshore wind farm, following the Vindeby in 1991 and Tunø in 1995, as well as being the largest offshore turbines erected in the world at the time. It helped pave the way for more than 600 bigger offshore turbines installed in British waters since then.
The wind farm was scheduled for decommissioning in 2019. One turbine went for spare parts, while the other was re-erected as a training facility in Blyth harbour.
There are plans to add a 100 MW test facility of 15 turbines at Blyth and nearby Newbiggin-by-the-Sea, supported by a government grant. The site would be administered by The National Renewable Energy Centre, based in Blyth. The test facility received planning consent in November 2013. It is planned with the Vestas V164-8MW and 66 kV cables.
The turbines have been decommissioned and replaced with five turbines further off shore.

Design and specification

The farm consisted of two Vestas 2 MW turbines.
The gravity based foundation was the concrete foundation for the wind turbines that was produced on land, in a dry dock. The self-floating GBF was floated to its destination and then immersed by ballasting it with water and sand. The GBF sat firmly on the sea bed and the wind turbine is then installed on this foundation. These foundations were 30 metres in diameter and had a 60 metre long shaft.