Race Bank

Location and Site Details

The Race Bank Offshore Wind Farm is situated in the North Sea, approximately 27 km north of Blakeney Point off the coast of Norfolk, and 28 km east of Chapel St Leonards off the Lincolnshire coast.

Capacity and Turbines

The wind farm has a total capacity of 573 MW, generated by 91 Siemens Gamesa 6 MW wind turbines. Each turbine has a rotor diameter of 154 meters and a height of 177 meters from the mean sea level. These turbines are installed on monopile foundations in water depths ranging from 6 to 26 meters.

Ownership

The wind farm is owned by a consortium consisting of Ørsted (50%), Macquarie European Infrastructure Fund 5 (25%), Macquarie Capital (12.5%), and Sumitomo Corporation (12.5%).

History and Development

Planning

• The UK government designated the Greater Wash strategic area for offshore wind farm development in 2002.
• In 2004, Centrica was awarded a lease by The Crown Estate to develop the wind farm.
• Centrica submitted a planning consent application for a 620 MW wind farm in 2009.
• Planning approval for a 580 MW capacity was granted in July 2012.
• In December 2013, Centrica sold the project to DONG Energy (now Ørsted) for £50 million due to the project not being shortlisted for early contract for difference subsidies.

Construction

• Onshore construction began in spring 2015, followed by offshore construction in spring 2016.
• Contracts were awarded to various companies including RXPE for electrical equipment, NKT for export cables, JDR for intra-array cabling, and Bilfinger Mars Offshore for steel foundations.
• The first monopile foundation was installed by July 2016.
• Turbine installation began in May 2017, using A2SEA’s purpose-built offshore installation vessel, Sea Challenger.
• Over 40 Second World War bombs were cleared from the cable route during the construction phase.

Operation

• The wind farm was fully commissioned in February 2018.
• It is operated and maintained from the East Coast Hub in Grimsby, supporting a workforce of more than 300 people.
• Ørsted uses a Service Operation Vessel (SOV) for offshore maintenance, which can remain at sea for up to 28 days to improve maintenance efficiency.

Power Generation and Transmission

• The wind farm generates enough electricity to power over half a million UK homes annually and offsets more than 830,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions per year.
• The electricity is transmitted to the onshore substation at Walpole through two 220kV offshore and onshore export cables. The cables make a landfall in The Wash and are buried onshore to the substation.

Substations and Infrastructure

• The wind farm includes two identical offshore substations connected to the onshore substation through subsea export cables. These substations are interlinked to ensure operational availability.
• The onshore substation is located near Walpole and feeds the electricity into the national grid.
• Alstom Grid’s DS Agile technology is used for substation automation, providing advanced situational awareness and protection systems.

Environmental and Social Impact

• The project covers an area of 75 square kilometers and is located at water depths of 4 to 22 meters.
• The wind farm supports a significant number of jobs, both during construction and in ongoing operations and maintenance.
• In 2019, Diamond Transmission Partners acquired the transmission assets of Race Bank for £472.5 million, including the onshore and offshore substations and export cables.

Future Developments

• In October 2018, Ørsted received approval for the potential Race Bank Extension project, which is expected to generate an additional 573 MW of green electricity. Ørsted owns a 70% stake in this extension, with Green Investment Group (17.5%) and Sumitomo Corporation (12.5%) as other stakeholders.