It has been a busy couple of months on the project with the civil contractor, SIC, having successfully handed over all 5 areas of the windfarm to GE Renewables. Coupled with the works completed by SIC in June 2020 this means that the whole windfarm site is now complete from a civil and electrical perspective and all areas are handed over to GE Renewables. Final works are ongoing at the site Substation, with the successful installation of steel supports and the continuation of installation of the overhead line, as teams prepare for the initial energisation of the site in mid-September.
The main focus of the site works in the period has concentrated on the turbine delivery and erection. To date there has been tower deliveries completed for twenty-four (24) full turbines, nine (9) sets of machine heads, drive train and hubs and thirteen (13) sets of blades. A series of cranes are in place, which carry out various functions such as component unloading, installation, and assembly support. The crane activities are separated into three distinct phases – Pre-Install 1, Pre-install 2 and Main installation. To date the Pre-install #1 crane has completed the first tower installation on twenty-seven (27) turbines. To date the Pre-install #2 crane has completed the next three tower section installation on twenty-four (24) turbines. There are three Main cranes operating on site which install the remaining tower sections (final three sections) and install the nacelle, hub and blades. On the 13th August 2020 a major milestone was achieved when installation was completed on the first turbine. By the end of August, four (4) complete turbines had been erected.
