Six turbines commissioned
During the coming month there will be full focus on the commissioning activities in the Walney 1 wind farm. Six turbines have been commissioned and are currently producing renewable power to the onshore grid. A further 10 turbines are awaiting commissioning as the energising of the B-row (B06 through B10) and A-row (A07 through A11) has been carried out.

Array cable installation completed
All the array cables in the offshore wind farm have been placed and connected to the turbines. The cable installation barge Stemat 82 has demobilized, and currently divers are making sure that a few remaining parts of a few cables have been placed safely into the sea bed.
The placing of armour stones for scour protection has been completed at all positions in Walney 1.

Stemat 82 together with the support vessels installing cables; Prosper in the background.

Test of new gangway system
During the installation phase, new methods of accessing the turbines were tested. 
The gangway system, called Ampelmann, works according to the same principle as a flight simulator, but here it works the opposite, keeping the gangway stable during vessel movement. The Ampelmann was tested as a supplementary way of accessing the turbines instead of using service vessels – and the Ampelmann was especially used during cable pull-in at the foundation before the wind turbines were installed. The Ampelmann system has now been demobilised.

First operations for Walney 2 have begun
Just as the commissioning technicians inside the turbines are working intensely to commission the turbines in the Walney 1 Windfarm, the first activities on Walney 2 have begun.

The vessel Pompei has prepared the first 10 positions for the Walney 2 Offshore Windfarm, placing a layer of filter stones on the sea bed. This is done to stabilise the soil during the hammering and to minimise any erosion around the monopile before the foundation monopiles are hammered into the sea bed. The stones used for Walney 1 and 2 are sourced from a local quarry, and the amount of stones needed is around 70,000 tonnes for each of the two wind farms.

Foundations for Walney 2
The first eight foundations for Walney 2 are planned arrive on 10 March, but due to a combination of the heavy load and a 'spring tide', the time of arrival could be subject to changes due to insufficient water depth for the vessel. A total of seven arrivals will bring the turbines from Rostock to the harbour of Barrow-in-Furness. Approximately one week after the first monopiles have arrived, the first shipment of transition pieces will arrive to the site.

Layout changes from Walney 1 to Walney 2
Basically, Walney 1 and Walney 2 are similar. Each of the two wind farms contains 51 turbines with a capacity of 3.6MW each. However, there are differences as the turbine blades for Walney 2 will be longer than for Walney 1 and have a blade diameter of 120 metres compared to 107 metres for Walney 1. The increased diameter will result in a higher yearly production and make the turbines capable of reaching their maximum sooner than the turbines in Walney 1.

This is part of the technical development taking place in the wind industry and the effort to make wind turbines even more efficient.

Another difference between the two wind farms is how the cable is led into the turbine. In Walney 1, the cable is placed inside a protective device, called a J-tube, which is mounted on the foundation. The installation of the cables in the J-tubes is rather time-consuming and has required diver assistance during the installation.

In order to optimise the installation, the cables for Walney 2 will be fitted with a protective sleeve before they are placed on the sea bed and pulled into the foundation pile.

Model showing the construction using the protective sleeve.

Walney 2 onshore cable
Work on the onshore cable installation for Walney 2 at Cleveleys near Blackpool continues with cable jointing taking place at two locations with further cable pulling scheduled for the coming weeks.
 


The beach works are scheduled to start in March in preparation for the arrival of the offshore cable in May, which is earlier than anticipated. A horizontal directional drill under a culvert on the route (at Trunnah Road) is scheduled to take place from 19 February.

More details on the onshore cabling for Walney 2.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Walney Offshore Windfarms The Walney Offshore Windfarms project is located approximately 15km west of Barrow-in-Furness in Cumbria. The project consists of Walney 1 and Walney 2 each with 51 - 3.6MW turbines, giving a total capacity of the Walney project of 367.2MW. The rotor diameter of the turbines is 107m for Walney 1 and 120m for Walney 2, with a maximum height of 150m from blade tip to sea level. The total area of the development is some 73km2.