06 November 2008 13:20
First turbine installed at E.ON’s Robin Rigg offshore wind farm

The jack-up barges Sea Energy and the Sea Worker are now on site in the Solway Firth installing the wind turbines.  These join the MV Resolution which E.ON, the owners of the project, brought in to speed up the installation of turbine foundations, and the UR101 which is installing cables.

Ian Johnson, Robin Rigg Project Manager, said: "It's a fantastic sight on the Solway at the moment with a fleet of vessels putting in foundations, turbines and cables.

"I think it's fair to say that things are really coming together and all the team are over the moon at getting the first turbine in - it's starting to look like a wind farm for the first time.

"With so many boats on the water we're certainly hopeful that we can get back on schedule for the project."

When complete, the wind farm will consist of 60 turbines and will generate enough power to cater for the electricity needs of around 120,000 homes.

It will also displace the emission of 235,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide every year.

As part of a multi-billion pound investment programme E.ON is:

• Currently building one of the world's largest gas-fired CHP power stations (1,350MW) at the Isle of Grain in Kent at a cost of £500m;
• Applying to build a 1,600MW cleaner coal-fired power station at Kingsnorth in Kent at a cost of at least £1.5bn. The company has also entered the station into the Government's carbon capture and storage competition;
• Working on the early stages of building the 1,200MW Drakelow CCGT in Derbyshire;
• Applying to build the 300MW £700m Humber Gateway offshore wind farm;
• A 50:50 partner in the consortium looking to build the world's largest offshore wind farm, the 1,000MW London Array, in the Thames approaches;
• Looking at the possibility of building at least two nuclear power stations, and is working with AREVA and Westinghouse on reactor designs;
• Investigating a green development portfolio that could supply around a million homes and displace the emission of two million tonnes of carbon dioxide a year.

Ends

Notes to editors:

• E.ON is one of the UK's leading power and gas companies - generating and distributing electricity, and retailing power and gas - and is part of the E.ON group, the world's largest investor-owned power and gas company. We employ around 17,000 people in the UK;
• E.ON's retail business is a leading energy supplier in the UK with around 5.5 million electricity and gas customers, covering domestic, SME and industrial. E.ON also offers central heating and boiler care;
• We're one of the leading green generators in the UK, with 21 wind farms located from Cornwall to Northern Ireland. We also burn biomass material mixed with coal in two of our power stations and have recently completed one of the UK's largest dedicated biomass power stations at Lockerbie. Combined, our renewable portfolio generates enough green energy to power the homes in a city the size of Manchester;
• Our green development portfolio could power over a million homes and displace the emission of almost two million tonnes of carbon dioxide a year by building new onshore and offshore wind farms, biomass power stations, and tidal stream and wave power schemes;
• E.ON Climate & Renewables is responsible for E.ON Group's green generation projects worldwide;
• Our target is to cut the carbon released by each kW of electricity we generate by 10% between 2005-2012, having already reduced it by 20% since 1990;
• We have 1,300MW of renewable capacity under development;
• We invested £53 million in energy efficiency in 2006. These measures included loft and cavity wall insulation, installation of energy efficient boilers and smart metering, a technology we are investing a further £12 million in over the next two years.;
• Our non-operational carbon intensity dropped by 16.7% per employee in 2006;
• We are investing £50 million in new technologies and approaches over the next 5 years, through the Energy Technologies institute;
• We have Biodiversity Action Plans at many of our sites which align us with the UK target of significantly reducing biodiversity loss;
• E.ON Group has announced it intends to reduced the carbon intensity of its generation by 50% by 2030 (on 1990 levels);
• E.ON Group aims to spend €6bn on green generation by the end of 2010.

For more information contact:

Jonathan Smith on 024 7618 3676 or Rebecca Mara on 02476 183 679