OREANDA-NEWS. July 03, 2015. In 2008, SSE became joint owner of what would – at that point in time – become the world’s largest offshore wind farm: Greater Gabbard. The 140 turbine, 504 MW site would be installed in one of the deepest water locations in the outer Thames Estuary and, being the furthest wind farm site from shore at the time (roughly 2.5 hours by boat), would be the first in the UK to use a helicopter for its daily service needs.

 
Since Greater Gabbard’s first commercial operation back in 2011, SSE has learned a great deal. We’ve had to be open minded, think flexibly, be prepared to modify plans and vary our approach to service and operation at regular intervals. We learned that the weather and marine environment can vary dramatically across a vast 147 sq km site. We also soon discovered that having a control room that operated for only 12 hours a day limited our ability to respond to turbine resets and therefore plan effectively for the next working day in the event of any interventions being necessary. These challenges led us to extend our control room hours and change some of our seagoing vessels in order to have the relevant capabilities to safely access the offshore turbines in rougher weather conditions.
 
Now in 2015 and four years on, we are approaching the next stage in the life of the offshore wind farm as our service and warranty agreement with Siemens draws to a close. In 2016 SSE will reach a crossroads whereat we must choose whether to begin servicing Greater Gabbard’s turbines ourselves, contract with third party suppliers, or stick with the status quo. The choice will be based on who can best demonstrate they can undertake the work safely while also delivering the best value for money to the owners as the wind farm is now owned by a joint venture between RWE and SSE – together known as Greater Gabbard Offshore Wind Limited (GGOWL). RWE has been a dynamic partner in the project since construction began and as one of Europe’s leading offshore renewables developers, it has been able to share its wealth of knowledge and expertise, making GGOWL such a highly successful and effective partnership.

Present day and looking ahead
2015 is already proving to be an exceptionally busy year for GGOWL. Our first four apprentices – who hail from Lowestoft, Bradwell and Great Yarmouth – will soon return to site after a year at college. We are also now starting to employ additional technicians to inspect the turbines as they approach the end of their warranty, and we will shortly begin to adopt additional work scopes. This evolution can take place thanks to the fact our now highly experienced workforce understands more of what it takes to service the wind farm without external support.  
 
Looking back on almost seven years with SSE I have witnessed Greater Gabbard flourish from an onshore construction site at its grid connection location in Leiston, adjacent to Sizewell, through to offshore turbine installation, commissioning, generation and onwards into the mobilisation and development of our fantastic operations and maintenance team. I’ve seen our youngest technicians develop into highly competent and enthusiastic new supervisors, many of whom are working on the next evolution of offshore turbines such as the 6MW Direct Drive Siemens turbine at our test site in Hunterston.  
 
The next offshore wind project being taken forward by SSE in partnership with others is Beatrice Offshore Windfarm Ltd (BOWL) – located in the Outer Moray Firth off the north coast of Scotland. After our pioneering success at Greater Gabbard, SSE is fortunate indeed to be equipped with a team of nearly 60 safety-focused offshore wind professionals, underpinned by the rest of SSE’s wholesale team, to prepare us for this next, most exciting challenge.