Triton Knoll
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Triton Knoll Wind Farm is an 857 MW round 2 offshore wind farm off the coast of
Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (), abbreviated ''Lincs'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands and Yorkshire and the Humber regions of England. It is bordered by the East Riding of Yorkshire across the Humber estuary to th ...
, in the
North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Denmark, Norway, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, and France. A sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian Se ...
,
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 ...
. RWE Npower Renewables were awarded the lease to the development area in 2003. The offshore elements of the wind farm of up to 1200MW power gained planning consent in 2013; RWE reduced the scope of the wind farm to 900MW or under in 2014, to reduce cost per MW.
Statkraft Statkraft AS is a hydropower Hydropower (from Ancient Greek -, "water"), also known as water power or water energy, is the use of falling or fast-running water to Electricity generation, produce electricity or to power machines. This is ac ...
became joint owner of the development in early 2015. The onshore and offshore electrical connection assets were given planning permission in September 2016. The Project is now owned by RWE (59%), J-Power (25%) and Kansai Electric Power (16%). Construction of the first turbine was completed in January 2021, and with the installation of substations at each end of an undersea cable, first power was announced on 1 March 2021. The final turbine of the 90 in the development was assembled on 17 September 2021, with an expected final completion in spring 2022.


History

The project was initially developed by RWE Npower Renewables, who was awarded the 'Triton Knoll' development area by the
Crown Estate The Crown Estate is a collection of lands and holdings in the United Kingdom belonging to the British monarch as a corporation sole, making it "the sovereign's public estate", which is neither government property nor part of the monarch's priva ...
in 2003. The original development was refined, extending north outside the original area, with the boundaries of the area defined by the avoidance of main shipping routes. In 2008 the developer accepted an offer from National Grid for an onshore grid connection at Bicker Fen, with landfall made at Mumby. Later the connection offer was withdrawn by National Grid due to a re-assessment of their planning. By 2011 the two parties had agreed on a connection at Bicker Fen. However, due to uncertainty over the final state of the Bicker Fen substation, in 2011 the developer split the planning applications into separate offshore wind farm and electrical system applications, to minimise delay. A planning application for the offshore elements was submitted in early 2012. The formal developer was ''Triton Knoll Offshore Wind Farm Ltd'', a 100% subsidiary of RWE Npower Renewables -they applied for a wind farm of in size off the
North Norfolk North Norfolk is a Non-metropolitan district, local government district in Norfolk, England. Its council is based in Cromer, and the largest town is North Walsham. The district also includes the towns of Fakenham, Holt, Norfolk, Holt, Shering ...
and
Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (), abbreviated ''Lincs'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands and Yorkshire and the Humber regions of England. It is bordered by the East Riding of Yorkshire across the Humber estuary to th ...
coast in the southern
North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Denmark, Norway, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, and France. A sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian Se ...
; the development area was cut in two by a NE/SW running pipeline channel of width. The proposed wind farm would be of up to 1200MW capacity, with turbines foundations in water with depth of . The planning application included the offshore structures, but excluded the undersea export cable, and onshore electrical infrastructure. In July 2013 the government approved the plan for a wind farm of up to 288 turbines with up to 1200MW generating capacity, with associated meteorological masts, offshore substations, and connecting cabling, with wind turbines limited to tip height, rotor height, and rotor diameter. Additionally pile driving was not permitted during the
Herring Herring are various species of forage fish, belonging to the Order (biology), order Clupeiformes. Herring often move in large Shoaling and schooling, schools around fishing banks and near the coast, found particularly in shallow, temperate wate ...
spawning season (September to mid October), without prior permission. In January 2014 the developer RWE announced that it had chosen to progress with a reduced plan of between 600 and 900 MW power, in order to reduce the cost (per MW) of the development. In February 2015
Statkraft Statkraft AS is a hydropower Hydropower (from Ancient Greek -, "water"), also known as water power or water energy, is the use of falling or fast-running water to Electricity generation, produce electricity or to power machines. This is ac ...
acquired a 50% stake in the project. In late 2015 Statkraft announced it would no longer be investing in offshore wind, but would continue with the development at Triton Knoll. In April 2015 the developers submitted their planning application for the electrical power export system.
HVAC Heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC ) is the use of various technologies to control the temperature, humidity, and purity of the air in an enclosed space. Its goal is to provide thermal comfort and acceptable indoor air quality. ...
was identified as the preferred method of electrical power export;
HVDC A high-voltage direct current (HVDC) electric power transmission system uses direct current (DC) for electric power transmission, in contrast with the more common alternating current (AC) transmission systems. Most HVDC links use voltages betwe ...
and mixed HVDC/HVAC systems were considered but HVDC was rejected primarily on cost grounds, with the export cable length not sufficiently long to justify a HVDC system.
Overhead line An overhead line or overhead wire is an electrical cable that is used to transmit electrical energy to electric locomotives, Electric multiple unit, electric multiple units, trolleybuses or trams. The generic term used by the International Union ...
s were rejected on environmental impact grounds. A landfall at or near Anderby Creek was identified as likely, An intermediate electric compound (IEC) use to regulate the
reactive power In an electric circuit, instantaneous power is the time rate of flow of energy past a given point of the circuit. In alternating current circuits, energy storage elements such as inductors and capacitors may result in periodic reversals of the ...
of the AC cables, and a preferred site was selected to the west of
Skegness Stadium Skegness Stadium is a short tarmac oval racing circuit used for stock car, banger racing and former greyhound racing and speedway stadium on Marsh Lane in Orby, Skegness, Lincolnshire. located just outside Skegness. It hosts British stock ...
. A final substation site at or near ''Double Twelves Drove'' northwest of the Bicker Fen connection, and adjacent east of the ''South Forty Drain'' was shortlisted as the preferred option. Offshore and onshore export cables were to be energised at up to 220kV for a connection at Bicker Fen at 400kV. The proposed onshore cable route consisted of around of underground cable - a number of interested parties raised concerns about the cable route and windfarm: farmers and the NFU raised concerns about its effects on drainage; and Lincoln City Council claimed the development would have a negative effect on tourism; Lincolnshire County Council raised concerns about the combined environmental impact of the onshore link together with the 1.4 GW
Viking Link Viking Link is a 1,400 megawatt, MW high-voltage direct current, HVDC submarine power cable between the United Kingdom and Denmark, which was completed in 2023. , it is the longest land and subsea HVDC interconnector in the world. The project is ...
electrical connector to Denmark. The electrical grid connection including onshore and offshore cabling was given planning permission in September 2016. The wind farm was estimated in 2015 to represent a total investment of £3-4 billion. With the scaling back of capacity and falling installation prices, the 90 turbine 857MW installation is expected (September 2021) to cost some £2 billion.


Construction timeline

*2018. Initial onshore construction started in 2018, with main construction of the substation and cable route planned for late summer 2018. * September 2018. J Murphy and Sons began construction of the on-shore cable route from Anderby Creek to the substation at Bicker Fen, near Boston, Lincs. Work on the substation began in early 2019, and was completed by Siemens Energy in autumn 2020. Resintatement and landscaping for the cable route and substation were finalised in spring 2021. *January 2020: Offshore construction began with installation of the first turbine foundation on 22 January 2020 by the Seaway 7's Strashnov vessel, which, in conjunction with heavy lift vessel DEME Innovation, installed all 90 monopile 54 metre steel foundations by late August 2020. *April 2020. Installation of the two offshore substation platforms (OSPs) designed by Siemens Energy *June 2020. Completion and opening of the Operations and Maintenance Base in
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 ...
. *August 2020. Two 50 km cable circuits were laid from the offshore substations to the landfall at Anderby Creek, Lincolnshire. They were laid and plough-buried by the
Boskalis Boskalis Westminster N.V. is a Dutch dredging and heavylift company that provides services relating to the construction and maintenance of maritime infrastructure internationally. The company has one of the world's largest dredging fleets, a la ...
cable-laying vessel NDurance. *January 2021. First turbine installed. The turbine blades are manufactured on the
Isle of Wight The Isle of Wight (Help:IPA/English, /waɪt/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''WYTE'') is an island off the south coast of England which, together with its surrounding uninhabited islets and Skerry, skerries, is also a ceremonial county. T ...
by MHI-
Vestas Vestas Wind Systems A/S is a Danish manufacturer, seller, installer, and servicer of wind turbines that was founded in 1945. The company operates manufacturing plants in Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Taiwan, India, Italy, Romania, the Un ...
, and the turbines are manufactured at Lindø. They are brought to the construction centre at Seaton Port, near
Hartlepool Hartlepool ( ) is a seaside resort, seaside and port town in County Durham, England. It is governed by a unitary authority borough Borough of Hartlepool, named after the town. The borough is part of the devolved Tees Valley area with an estimat ...
, by a purposebuilt cargo ship. *March 2021. With the offshore and onshore substations completed, first power was announced on 1 March 2021. *June 2021. Half-way point for turbine installation is reached, with 45 of the planned 90 turbines installed by 8 June, using theDEME's jack-up vessel 'Wind Osprey'. *September 2021. 90th and final turbine was announced as having been installed, completing the 857MW array.


Notes


References


Sources

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External links

* {{East Midlands powerstations Power stations in Yorkshire and the Humber E.ON Round 2 offshore wind farms Proposed wind farms in England Offshore wind farms in the North Sea Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects (United Kingdom)