Lamprell to build transition pieces for RWE’s UK offshore wind farms

German utility RWE has awarded two key contracts to Lamprell Energy to supply transition pieces to its two UK offshore wind projects currently under development – Norfolk Vanguard West and Norfolk Vanguard East.

The scope of work requires manufacturing and supplying one batch of 92 transition pieces per wind farm and transporting the structures to RWE’s official marshalling port.

Vanguard West and Vanguard East are part of a trio of offshore wind farms along with Norfolk Boreas, making up the Norfolk Offshore Wind Zone off the UK east coast. Together all three RWE Norfolk projects would be capable of generating enough clean energy to supply the equivalent of around 4m typical UK homes.

Each of RWE’s three Norfolk projects has a planned capacity of 1.4 GW. They would be constructed approximately 47 to 80 km off the coast of Norfolk in East Anglia. The projects already have seabed rights, grid connections, and all other key permits. Onshore construction of the substations and undergrounded cable route between Necton and Happisburgh has already begun. RWE will enter the Norfolk Vanguard projects into a future Contracts for Difference auction.

The German firm is developing 10 offshore wind projects across the UK and Ireland, representing a combined potential installed capacity of around 10.5GW. RWE is also constructing the 1.4GW Sofia offshore wind project in the North Sea off the UK’s east coast.