Innogy has agreed a deal in principle to set up an operations and maintenance base for its 336MW Galloper offshore wind farm at the port of Harwich in the east of England.
The utility has chosen to lease land at the Harwich International Port and is about to lodge a planning application for the facility with Tendring District Council in Essex.
Spades are expected in the ground in spring next year with completion slated for 2018 in line with the under-construction wind farm’s start of operations.
The base (pictured) will create around 90 jobs for the area and more across the UK in terms of supply chain impacts, an Innogy spokeswoman said.
Galloper project director Toby Edmonds told reNEWS: “Following the redesign of the project in 2015 we considered a number of options in relation to the operations and maintenance base and Harwich meets the project’s specific requirements.
“Galloper wind farm is also supported by our offshore construction coordination base at the Port of Lowestoft, our onshore substation base in Sizewell and the turbine assembly base currently in construction at Great Yarmouth.”
Galloper is jointly owned by Innogy together with UK Green Investment Bank, Siemens Financial Services and Macquarie Capital. It will feature 56 Siemens 6MW turbines.
Image: Innogy
