The Diplomat
Iberdrola has begun construction in the United Kingdom of the East Anglia Three offshore wind farm, a facility with 1,400 megawatts (MW) of power that, together with the rest of the complex, will mobilise investments of 6,500 million pounds (7,700 million euros), the largest investment in this technology of the firm.
The Spanish company will build a large complex with the development of two other farms, East Anglia One North and East Anglia Two, for a total installed capacity of 3,000 MW, 6% of the country’s offshore wind generation target, the company said in a statement yesterday.
In the case of the East Anglia Three, the energy company expects it to start operating in 2025 and its production would serve to provide clean energy to 1.3 million homes. Up to 7,000 people will be employed during the construction phase.
The wind farm under construction will also join East Anglia One, which Iberdrola operates through its subsidiary ScottishPower and has 714 MW of power and the capacity to produce energy for 630,000 British homes.
The first phase of the works will focus on ground works. In collaboration with Siemens and Aker Solutions, the park’s onshore substation will be installed in the county of Suffolk and connected to the National Grid electricity network.
East Anglia Three will cover an area of 305 square kilometres, where more than a hundred new generation wind turbines will be installed at a height of up to 247 metres.
It will also have four offshore substations, a platform to house operations and four submarine cables to export the energy produced to the coast.
When it starts producing, the farm will be the seventh of the company, which already has the aforementioned East Anglia One and two other farms located in the Irish Sea and the German waters of the Baltic in service.
The Spanish company is also building three large facilities in France, the United States and Germany, with investments of 2.5 billion euros in the first two and 3.5 billion euros in the last.
Offshore wind power has been one of the group’s main focuses since the company began its development two decades ago. Of the 7,000 MW that the company has under construction or secured with long-term sale and purchase agreements, 78.5% correspond to offshore projects.
Thus, this energy has already accounted for 30% of the new capacity installed by the group during the first half of the year. In the coming years, Iberdrola will invest around 30 billion euros worldwide with the aim of reaching 12,000 MW of offshore wind energy in operation by 2030.
