Scroby Sands Wind Farm

The Scroby Sands Wind Farm is a wind farm located on the Scroby Sands sandbank in the North Sea, 2.5 kilometres (1.6 mi) off the coast of Great Yarmouth in eastern England, United Kingdom. It was commissioned in March 2004 by Powergen Renewables Offshore, a division of E.ON UK. It has a nameplate capacity of 60 megawatts and is able to produce power to supply 41,000 households. Between 2005 and 2010, its capacity factor was between 26 and 32%.[1]

Scroby Sands Wind Farm
Scroby Sands Wind Turbines
Country	United Kingdom, England
Location	off the coast of Great Yarmouth, Norfolk
Coordinates	52°38′56″N 1°47′25″E
Status	Operational
Construction began	2003
Commission date	2004
Construction cost	€87 million
Owner(s)	E.ON UK
Wind farm
Type	Offshore
Max. water depth	5–10 m (16–33 ft)
Distance from shore	2.5 km (1.6 mi)
Hub height	68 m (223 ft)
Rotor diameter	80 m (260 ft)
Rated wind speed	16 m/s (58 km/h)
Power generation
Units operational	30 x 2 MW
Make and model	Vestas V80-2MW
Nameplate capacity	60 MW
Capacity factor	32.42% (2012)
External links
Commons	Related media on Commons

The farm consists of 30 wind turbines, located in water from 13 to 20 metres (43 to 66 ft) deep. Each turbine has three 40-metre (130 ft) blades that rotate around a centre-point some 60 metres (200 ft) above the mean sea level. The hollow 4.5-metre (14.8 ft) diameter steel masts that carry the turbines are piled as much as 30 metres (98 ft) into the sea bed, to provide stability on a substrate of shifting sands.

The wind turbines were designed and manufactured by a Danish firm, Vestas. Each turbine has a capacity of 2 megawatts.[2] Turbines were installed by the Danish offshore wind farms services provider A2SEA.[3]

Tourism

The wind farm has an information centre serving around 35,000 visitors per year, and has become a local attraction.[4][5]

Gallery

• 
  Wind farm seen from Great Yarmouth
• 
  Information board at Great Yarmouth
• 
  A Jackup rig servicing one of the wind turbines

See also

• Wind power in the United Kingdom
• Sheringham Shoal Offshore Wind Farm
• List of offshore wind farms
• List of offshore wind farms in the United Kingdom
• List of offshore wind farms in the North Sea

References

1. Dunford et al. UK Renewable Energy Data, Issue 10 p53 Renewable Energy Foundation, 29 July 2010. Accessed: 30 September 2011.
2. "Datasheet for Scroby Sands". LORC Knowledge. 2011-03-14. Retrieved 2011-06-20.
3. "A2SEA presentation" (PDF). A2SEA. Export Promotion Denmark. 2005-04-12. Retrieved 2010-07-14.
4. "Scroby Sands Offshore Wind Farm, United Kingdom". powertechnology.com. Net Resources International. Retrieved 2009-08-22.
5. "Tourism and wind farms". E.ON UK. Retrieved 2009-08-22.

External links

• Capital Grant Scheme for Offshore Wind Annual Report – January 2005 – December 2005 from the Department of Trade and Industry. The main finding being that - apparently owing to a series of bearing failures, and four generator failures - production in the year was less to 30% of the farm's nameplate capacity (albeit this represents production of 90% of the farm's forecast annual output.
• Performance report into wind farm from the BBC, based on the above report.
• E.ON UK - Scroby Sands E.ON's page about Scroby Sands.