Work is underway on a multi-million pound offshore wind farm in Northumberland.

The 15-turbine project off the coast of Blyth will be built by a joint venture (JV) between EDF Energies Nouvelles and EDF Energy, EDF Energy Renewables.

At 41.5MW capacity, the development will generate enough green electricity to power 33,000 homes, with around 200 people working on the project at its peak.

Balfour Beatty will build an electricity substation at Blyth to transmit power supplied by the wind farm to the National Grid.

In addition, specialist sub sea cable company VMBS will install 66Kv cable technology for the project.

MHI Vestas Offshore Wind will manufacture and install the wind turbines, while the concrete gravity base foundations will be built by Royal BAM Group.


A 'float and sink' method will be used to install the foundations and is the first time this method has been used on wind turbines.

Work on the first five turbines is due to be completed in 2017.

Matthieu Hue, EDF Energy Renewables CEO, said: "As a company, we already have a strong presence in the North East, in low carbon electricity generation and serving customers including our first offshore wind farm at Teesside so we're pleased to be able to add another project to our portfolio in the region.

"We are delighted that the gravity based foundations will be made in Newcastle. The Port of Blyth will be used for operations and maintenance and the blades for the turbines will be made on the Isle of Wight."

BAM Nuttall's Head of Civil Engineering Malcolm Corlett added: "This is a very significant milestone not just for BAM but for the wider offshore wind sector. An opportunity to demonstrate the potential for self-installing concrete gravity bases to provide economic foundations for large wind turbines in deeper water.

"Following five years of intensive work refining our design and method of construction we now have a live project to demonstrate our technology and bring new skills and opportunity to the North East of England."

(LM/MH)