The Centrica held a celebration event in relation with the Lincs Offshore Wind Farm for the local stakeholders, the community and members of the project team in Skegness, north-east England.
The wind farm – which is located just eight kilometres from the Skegness shoreline – is one of a number of wind farms completed by DONG Energy in 2013 and will add 270MW of installed capacity to the company’s portfolio.
Held in the Royal National Lifeboat Association (RNLI) building on the sea front, guests from some of the many companies, suppliers and contractors who helped to make the Lincs project a reality, along with representatives from a number of authorities in Lincolnshire and Norfolk (where the cable lands onshore), were present to celebrate the completion of the project.
Richard Guy, Asset Manager for Barrow and Lincs , sits on the Lincs Board of Directors and said:
“There were a few delays in installing the final turbines earlier this year but we’re all very pleased that the wind farm is now up and running and producing electricity. We’ve had a very productive and successful relationship with the partners in Lincs, and like so many of our offshore wind farms, this project is another example of how partnerships and collaboration in constructing offshore wind projects can really pay off.”
Being a part of the community
Many of the organisations represented at the Lincs event have been working with the project for a number of years, either through scientific study or community interest. Organisations like the Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust and Gibraltar Point nature reserve have helped raise awareness of the local environment among future generations, with the support of the project team. The project has also installed four new signs along the seafront giving information about the wind farms, how they were built – these were installed as a direct result from many requests from the public to provide such information.
Lincs is a joint venture between DONG Energy, Centrica and Siemens Project Ventures. Currently, half of the 75 turbines are generating power as the commissioning work enters the final stage and the team is hopeful that the whole site will be fully operational, weather allowing, by the end of August 2013.
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Press release, July 4, 2013; Image: DONG Energy