The Diplomat
Iberdrola, through its subsidiary ScottishPower Renewables, has launched what is now the largest wind farm in its history, the East Anglia ONE offshore wind farm in British waters of the North Sea, the company said in a statement.
With an installed capacity of 714 megawatts (MW), the 102 turbines that comprise it are already operational, producing clean energy for 630,000 British homes.
East Anglia ONE operates at full capacity, after allocating a total investment of 2,500 million pounds (about 2,785 million euros at current exchange rates) and employing 3,500 professionals during its construction. In addition, 100 permanent and skilled jobs have been created for the operation and maintenance of the park at the Lowestoft base on the UK’s east coast.
The company has indicated that East Anglia ONE has started within the initially planned timeframe, despite the complex environment generated by the Covid-19 pandemic.
About 20% of the installation of the turbines was carried out during the period of confinement in the United Kingdom, which forced the company and its professionals to change their work operations.
Following the launch of East Anglia ONE, Iberdrola has a portfolio of 12,000 MW of offshore wind energy worldwide, plus 9,000 MW of development options in Sweden.
This new facility was built by the Spanish firm Navantia, which manufactured the wind farm’s substation at its facilities in Puerto Real (Cadiz), which has been dubbed ‘Andalucía II’.
This infrastructure is in charge of collecting the electricity produced by the wind turbines and transforming the voltage to be able to transfer it to the coast, for which two export cables on the seabed are in charge, each one of a length of about 85 kilometers.
Iberdrola already has its sights set on the East Anglia HUB, which is the group’s largest marine project worldwide and encompasses three projects totalling 3,100 MW: East Anglia ONE North, East Anglia TWO and East Anglia THREE.
The development of this large complex, which is scheduled to start in 2022, will require an investment of 6,500 million pounds sterling (more than 7,600 million euros).
The three farms will be developed simultaneously and will make Iberdrola one of the leading operators in the UK offshore wind sector.
