Wescott Industrial Services Finish Beatrice Preparation Work
Thursday 15 March 2018
Jarrow-based Wescott Industrial Services have ensured that the two Offshore Transformer Modules (OTM) which will become a crucial part of the Beatrice Offshore Wind Farm were ready for installation in the New Year after a gruelling five month contract at Methil which saw a crew of some 44 blasters and painters working around the clock to prepare and coat the steel surfaces.
Located in the Moray Firth, the Beatrice Offshore Wind farm project will be Scotland’s largest offshore wind farm, comprising of 84 giant Siemens turbines and providing 588MW capacity when fully operational in 2019, enough to power some 450,000 homes. The £2.6bn investment has seen onshore construction since 2016 with the offshore construction commencing in April 2107. The 84 jackets, which are up to 80m tall, have been fabricated not only at Methil, but also in Newcastle, Belgium and Denmark.
The huge blades of the 154m diameter turbines are manufactured at Siemens’ facility in Hull which employs 1,000 people. Each turbine is capable of generating 690 volts which is transformed in the turbine nacelle up to 33,000 volts. The electricity is sent by a series of ‘inter-array’ cables linking the turbines to two offshore transformer modules which will transform the electricity again up to 220,000 volts.
The electricity will then be sent via subsea cables to landfall west of Portgordon (a distance of around 60km). Once ashore, the electricity will be sent a further 20km via underground cables to the Beatrice substation at Blackhillock which transforms the electricity up to 400,000 volts for onward transmission on the National Grid after passing through the neighbouring Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks substation.