The Lincs Wind Farm is a 270 MW offshore

wind farm A wind farm, also called a wind park or wind power plant, is a group of wind turbines in the same location used to produce electricity. Wind farms vary in size from a small number of turbines to several hundred wind turbines covering an exten ...

off

Skegness Skegness ( ) is a seaside town and civil parish in the East Lindsey District of Lincolnshire, England. On the Lincolnshire coast of the North Sea, the town is east of Lincoln and north-east of Boston. With a population of 21,128 as of 2021 ...

on the east coast of

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. The total cost of the project is estimated at £1 billion including electrical transmission links. The farm was completed in 2013. It is adjacent to the smaller Lynn and Inner Dowsing Wind Farm.

History

Centrica Centrica plc is a British  multinational energy and services company with its headquarters in Windsor, Berkshire, England. It is the largest supplier of gas to domestic customers in the United Kingdom, and one of the largest suppliers ...

acquired the Lincs Wind Farm project in 2004 from Renewable Energy Systems, in 2008 the company obtained planning permission for the project. In December 2009 Ørsted A/S (then named DONG Energy) and Siemens Project Ventures jointly acquired 50% of the project (25% share each) for £50 million, plus 50% of the capital cost of the project. Preparatory construction work for the development included the extension of the National Grid electricity substation at

Walpole, Norfolk __NOTOC__ Walpole is a civil parish in Norfolk, England. The parish includes the conjoined villages of Walpole St Andrew and Walpole St Peter. Walpole Highway and Walpole Cross Keys are separate civil parishes. The parish covers an area of , and ...

, which began in April 2009. In June 2010 Siemens obtained the contract for the offshore electrical substation (£101 million). Transmission cables from offshore to onshore

electrical substation A substation is a part of an electrical generation, transmission, and distribution system. Substations transform voltage from high to low, or the reverse, or perform any of several other important functions. Between the generating station an ...

s were installed in 2010–2011. Construction of the offshore facilities of the wind farm began in 2011, with the installation of the offshore electricity substation foundations. The

Port of Hull The Port of Hull is a port at the confluence of the River Hull and the Humber Estuary in Kingston upon Hull, in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. Seaborne trade at the port can be traced to at least the 13th century, originally con ...

was selected as one of the logistics bases for the wind farm turbine installation, supplying wind tower transition pieces.

Jack-up barge A jackup rig or a self-elevating unit is a type of mobile platform that consists of a buoyant hull fitted with a number of movable legs, capable of raising its hull over the surface of the sea. The buoyant hull enables transportation of the unit ...

''JB114'' arriving at the port in March 2012.

Great Yarmouth Great Yarmouth ( ), often called Yarmouth, is a seaside resort, seaside town which gives its name to the wider Borough of Great Yarmouth in Norfolk, England; it straddles the River Yare and is located east of Norwich. Its fishing industry, m ...

was also used as a base for the wind farm installation. Construction of the offshore 33 kV to 132 kV substation (structure sub-contracted to McNulty Offshore Construction/ Atkins PLC.) and of the onshore 132 kV to 400 kV substation was completed by April 2012. In August 2011, the consortia of Ørsted, Siemens, and Centrica began to seek financing for the £1 billion project, committing to providing £166.7, £75 and £333.3 million respectively (£575 million total). In June 2012 the consortia obtained financing for the project with £425 million of

nonrecourse debt Nonrecourse debt or a nonrecourse loan (sometimes hyphenated as non-recourse) is a secured loan (debt) that is secured by a pledge of collateral, typically real property, but for which the borrower is not personally liable. If the borrower def ...

facilities provided from a consortium of 10 banks. Approximately 75% of the project cost was for the wind farm installation, the remainder for the high voltage electricity transmission link. Construction began in 2010; installation of the 75-monopile tower foundation by MT Højgaard was completed by June 2012, with the underwater installation phase completed by September 2012. The first generator had been installed by 14 July 2012. The wind farm was scheduled to become operational in the second half of 2012, and be complete by 2013: the final turbine was installed by March 2013; and the wind farm officially opened by Deputy Prime Minister

Nick Clegg Sir Nicholas William Peter Clegg (born 7 January 1967) is a British retired politician and media executive who served as Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2010 to 2015 and as Leader of the Liberal Democrats from 2007 to 2015. H ...

in August 2013, with commissioning complete in September 2013. The license for the electrical transmission link was awarded to TC Lincs OFTO Limited for £308 million in late 2014.

Technical description

The scheme has 250 MW of generating capacity, with an additional 20 MW of turbine generating capacity constructed within the nearby Lynn Wind Farm and Dowsing Wind Farm but connected to the Lincs project transmission system. The project uses 75 three blade 3.6 MW Siemens wind turbines. The wind turbines have rotor diameter machines with blades with a hub height of on cylindrical steel towers. The turbines were installed in water depth, with a spacing of approximately within a wind farm. Transmission of electrical power to land is by 145 kV cables supplied by Nexans. Transmission voltage is 132 kV to land, being increased to 400 kV at Walpole substation for grid connection. The operation and maintenance base for the wind farm is based at

Grimsby Grimsby or Great Grimsby is a port town in Lincolnshire, England with a population of 86,138 (as of 2021). It is located near the mouth on the south bank of the Humber that flows to the North Sea. Grimsby adjoins the town of Cleethorpes dir ...

, where crews travel 1½ hours by boat to and from the wind farm. As at 2019, the windfarm has a rolling capacity factor of 39%. Its levelised cost has been estimated at £166/MWh. The wind farm has an expected lifespan of 40 years, with electrical equipment and wind turbines expected to be replaced after 20 years. After the end of the project's lifespan the farm is to be decommissioned, including removal of turbines and electrical equipment, and removal of offshore foundations or cut off to

seabed The seabed (also known as the seafloor, sea floor, ocean floor, and ocean bottom) is the bottom of the ocean. All floors of the ocean are known as seabeds. The structure of the seabed of the global ocean is governed by plate tectonics. Most of ...

level or lower. Connecting cables are not scheduled to be removed.

Notes

References

Sources

;Centrica * Statement for main wind farm area. ** Statement for 6 additional turbines of 20 MW within Lynn & Inner Dowsing farm area. * Project timeline and turbine locations (proposed). * ;Other * {{East Midlands powerstations Offshore wind farms in the North Sea Wind farms in England Skegness Ørsted (company) wind farms Round 2 offshore wind farms Buildings and structures in Lincolnshire Lincolnshire coast 2013 establishments in England Energy infrastructure completed in 2013

History

Technical description

See also

Notes

References

Sources