28 August 2008 10:18
E.ON replacing Blyth offshore wind farm power cable

E.ON, one of the country's leading green generators, is on the verge of completing the installation of an armoured power cable that will get the UK's first offshore wind farm producing power again.

Blyth offshore wind farm has been out of action from some time after the undersea power cable was damaged by the rocky conditions on the seabed.

But owners E.ON have been hard at work replacing the cable from the two wind turbines to the shore, using a different route to allow sections of the cable to be buried in sand.

Martin Roberts, Construction Projects Manager for E.ON, said: "We had to order a specially armoured cable from Italy, which has a steel outer shell to cope with the extreme conditions at Blyth.

"We started work at the end of the last week and hope to have the offshore work finished in the next few days, although we probably won't energise the cable until the week after next.

"It's been a very tricky project but we've had fantastic weather for the offshore work and we're confident that we're going to get the work finished and to plan, and then the UK's first offshore wind farm will be up and running again."

The wind farm was commissioned in 2000 and, once it is up and running again, it will be able to produce enough power for around 2,000 homes and to displace the emission of 4,500 tonnes of carbon dioxide every 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 is the new name for Powergen. Our retail business is a leading energy supplier in the UK, with around 8 million electricity and gas customer accounts, covering domestic, SME and industrial. E.ON offers central heating and boiler care through its Home Energy Services business;
• 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 Group aims to spend €6bn on green generation by the end of 2010.

For more information contact:

Jonathan Smith on 024 7618 3676