Narec is seeking consent from the Marine Management Organisation (MMO) to construct and operate, for up to 22 years, a 99.9MW offshore wind demonstration site at Blyth, Northumberland.
The proposed project will comprise a maximum of 15 turbines, to be constructed across 3 arrays, with a maximum number of 5 turbines in each array, at water depths ranging between 35m to 58m.
Narec expects to complete the Environmental Impact Assessment and consent submission early in 2012 with the Offshore Anemometry Hub expected to be installed 6km offshore of Blyth in the Spring, close to the location of the proposed nearest shore array.
The Anemometry Hub will provide wind resource and environmental data to validate turbine demonstrations on the proposed site, with the instrumentation and data management capability to be made available for future research collaborations.
The proposed demonstration facility for pre commercial prototype offshore wind turbines will be unique in global R&D terms, enabling manufacturers and wind farm developers to learn new approaches across the supply chain for the development, deployment and O&M of new turbine technologies.
[mappress]
Offshore WIND staff, March 28, 2012; Image: narec