UTILITY WEEK | 22ND - 28TH JUNE 2018 |
15
purpose-built service operation vessel,
which remains offshore with techni-
cians working shis of 14 days on, 14
days off.
At the official opening ceremony
in Grimsby, Orsted managing direc-
tor Matthew Wright said Race Bank
"underlines the company's contribu-
tion to the UK's energy transition".
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Operations & Assets
FIVE THINGS YOU
PROBABLY DIDN'T KNOW
ABOUT RACE BANK
Race Bank is
Orsted's first
windfarm since
the company
changed its name
Orsted changed its name
and branding from Dong
(an acronym for Danish
Oil and Natural Gas) in
October last year, to reflect
its shi from "black to
green energy".
Race Bank covers an
area of 75km2 – mak-
ing it the fih biggest
offshore windfarm in the
world. In layman's terms
(and in the spirit of the
World Cup) that's 10,500
football pitches. The total
capacity of the windfarm is
573MW, enough to power
more than half a million
UK homes.
75km
2
It is 'the world's
fastest Siemens
Gamesa
6MW turbine
installation'
The multi-million-pound
project was constructed
on time and on budget. It
took 4.2 million staff hours
(from both Orsted and
the supplier) to construct.
It is expected to operate
for 25 years. The first
foundation was installed
in July 2016, and the farm
was commissioned in
February 2018.
A single rotation of the
blades of one turbine
will power an average
household for 24 hours,
and there are 91 turbines.
The blades are handcraed
in Hull, and are paired to
have similar characteristics
to one another to avoid
imbalance. A single blade
is 75 metres (or 246 feet)
long, the wingspan of an
Airbus A380, and weighs
26 tonnes.
24
hours
It is the first
windfarm to
use a service
operational
vessel
To date, transport to and
from windfarms has been
done by crew transfer
vessels and, for long
distances, helicopters.
