Greater Gabbard Offshore Wind Farm is a 500 MW wind power plant under construction on sandbanks 23 kilometres (14 mi) off the coast of Suffolk in England at a cost between £650 million to £1.5 billion. Onshore construction activities commenced in early July 2008 at Sizewell and Siemens SWT3.6-107 turbines are projected to be delivered over 2009 and 2010. It is the world's largest offshore windfarm under construction.

The Greater Gabbard Offshore Wind Farm project was originally developed by Greater Gabbard Offshore Winds Limited (GGOWL) which was a joint venture between Airtricity and Fluor. Airtricity was subsequently bought by Scottish and Southern Energy who have bought out Fluor's 50% stake for £40m which is expected to cost £1.3b. Fluor are now contracted to design, supply, installation and commissioning of the balance of the plant. Scottish and Southern sold a 50% stake to RWE, the owners of Npower (UK), in November 2008 for £308m.

The project was given the go-ahead in May 2008.

In October 2009 Seajacks Ltd delivered its 7,000 tonne Leviathan vessel to Fluor Ltd which will sailed to Harwich to prepare the hook-up and commissioning of an in-field substation and then installation of the turbines. The first foundations were installed in autumn 2009 with the first of a total of 140 turbines to be installed in the spring 2010. Construction is expected to be completed in 2012.

At April 2011, 108 turbines were installed.

The first MWh of generation was achieved on 29 December 2010.

An extension of the project, called Galloper, may be agreed during 2012.

Incidents

On 12 November 2009, a man was killed and a woman injured after a chain broke and the two people were hit with pieces of the chain. Police responded to the incident, and an investigation was launched. The casualties were on board a tugboat, the Typhoon.

A man died and another suffered serious injuries following an accident at Parkeston Quay, Harwich. Per Terp, a 42-year-old Siemens engineer from Norresundby, Denmark, died in the incident. A 43-year-old German national was taken to Addenbrooke’s Hospital. The incident happened on Friday, May 21 at about 7.50 am while loading a wind turbine blade on the vessel Seajack.

Specification

  • Number of turbines: up to 140
  • Power rating: 500 MW
  • Load factor: 'greater than 40%'
  • Estimated output: 1.9 TWh per year
  • Cost: £1512 million[2] (£650 million not counting grid connection)
  • Location: offshore, 23 kilometres (14 mi) from Sizewell on the Inner Gabbard and The Galloper sandbanks

Greater Gabbard Wind Farm
Country England
Locale Inner Gabbard and The Galloper banks
North Sea
Suffolk Coast
Status Under construction
Commission date 2012 (expected)
Owner(s) Scottish and Southern
RWE Npower Renewables

Turbine information
Turbines 140
Manufacturer(s) Siemens Wind Power
Model(s) Siemens 3.6 MW turbines
Wind farm information
Distance from shore 23 km (14 mi)

Power generation information
Maximum capacity 500 MW