Ziton jack-up Wind Pioneer is tackling gearbox and main bearing exchanges on a pair of Siemens turbines at Dong Energy’s 184MW Gunfleet Sands offshore wind farm off the UK east coast.
The Danish giant, which initially declined to specify the nature of the repairs disclosed in a notice to mariners, confirmed the “maintenance work, including exchanges of the gearbox and main bearing” is underway.
The work is taking place at two turbine locations, according to the notice, and stated earlier this month. It is expected to take a month.
Two tugs and a crew transfer vessel are supporting Wind Pioneer on the job.
Dong is the majority shareholder in Gunfleet Sands with Marubeni and the Development Bank of Japan each holding a 24.95% stake in the project sited 7km south-east of Clacton-on-Sea off Essex.
Gunfleet Sands is made up of the 30-turbine Gunfleet Sands 1 and 18-turbine Gunfleet Sands 2. Both facilities feature 3.6MW Siemens machines.
A third demonstration phase features two Siemens 6MW turbines.
Image: Gunfleet Sands (Ashley Dacre and Commons Wikimedia)
