West of Duddon Sands Wind Farm | |
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West of Duddon Sands Wind Farm viewed from Blackpool
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Country | England, United Kingdom |
Location | 10 Miles south west of Walney Island Cumbria |
Coordinates | 53°58′59″N 3°27′47″W / 53.983°N 3.463°WCoordinates: 53°58′59″N 3°27′47″W / 53.983°N 3.463°W |
Status | Operational |
Construction began | May 2013 |
Commission date | October 2014 |
Construction cost | £1.6 billion |
Owner(s) |
Scottish Power Dong Energy |
Wind farm | |
Type | Offshore |
Site area | 67 km2 (26 sq mi) |
Distance from shore | 14 km (8.7 mi) |
Rotor diameter | 120 m (394 ft) |
Power generation | |
Units operational | 108 |
Make and model | Siemens Wind Power: SWT-3.6 |
Nameplate capacity | 389 MW |
West of Duddon Sands Wind Farm (WoDS), occasionally also known as West Duddon Wind Farm is an offshore wind farm located 14 kilometres (8.7 mi) south west of Walney Island off the coast of Barrow-in-Furness in Cumbria, in the Irish Sea, England. It was developed by Scottish Power and Dong Energy.
The wind farm gets its name from a large sand bank uncovered at low water in the mouth of the estuary of the River Duddon to the north of the Furness Peninsula. The farm actually lies to the south west of the Duddon Sands and covers an area of approximately 67 km2.
It is situated in the vicinity of three other wind farms. It is to the south of the Walney Wind Farm and Ormonde Wind Farm, and to the west of the Barrow Offshore Wind Farm.
The project to develop the West of Duddon Sands Wind Farm was awarded in December 2003 as part of the Round 2 development programme. The project was awarded to Morecambe Wind Ltd, a partnership between Scottish Power, Elsam, and Eurus Energy. Elsam, a Danish company, was later acquired by DONG Energy. By 2014 the windfarm was stated to be "a joint venture project between ScottishPower Renewables and Dong Energy".
The project included constructing the wind turbines and their foundations, building offshore substations, installing power cables both undersea and onshore, as well as an extension to the existing onshore Electrical substation to house the equipment needed for connection into the UK National Grid. Cables were supplied by NKT, and are 82 km of 155 kV sea cables and 22 km land cables, at a price of DKK 600 million.