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Siemens Gamesa scores Sofia supplier agreement

4C Offshore | Tom Russell
By: Tom Russell 22/06/2020 innogy

Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy has secured a preferred supplier agreement to supply its SG 14-222 DD offshore wind turbine to innogy's
Sofia offshore wind farm. Sofia is set to be the first European project to install the model, which will be market-ready by 2024.

The Siemens Gamesa agreement includes the manufacture, installation and commissioning of a total of 100 turbines, each standing 262 metres tall, just 47 metres shorter than the UK’s tallest building, the Shard.


The SG 14-222 DD is a 14 MW platform featuring 108-metre carbon and fibreglass blades cast in a single mould and a 222-metre diameter rotor, sweeping an area of 39,000 m2.


UK Minister for Energy and Clean Growth Kwasi Kwarteng said: “The UK has invested more in offshore wind than any other country and is already home to the world’s largest offshore wind farms. Now the UK will be the first European nation to boast this cutting-edge turbine technology at Sofia Offshore Wind Farm.

“Offshore wind will play a vital role in a future net-zero UK economy, and already supplies 10% of UK electricity demand - a figure we expect to double by the middle of the decade.”


The 1.4 GW
Sofia offshore wind farm is located 195 kilometres from the UK coast on Dogger Bank, in the shallow area of the central North Sea. Construction of the wind farm is due to begin onshore at its Teesside converter station site in early 2021, with offshore construction expected to get underway in 2023.

Sven Utermöhlen, Senior Vice President Renewables Operations Offshore at innogy SE, said: “The selection of these state-of-the-art offshore wind turbines for Sofia, our largest offshore wind development project, reflects our ambition to strive for continuous innovation. Siemens Gamesa’s towering 14 MW machine is a perfect match for our flagship Sofia project, together cementing offshore wind‘s central role in the world’s clean energy future. This turbine embodies the impressive technology we need to build our ground-breaking project, that is further from shore and more technically challenging than any of its predecessors.”

Andreas Nauen, Siemens Gamesa Global CEO said: “We’re delighted that innogy has shown its confidence in our new machines and proven its commitment to creating a clean future with us now. In uncertain times, we are proud that innogy is choosing machinery with a pedigree of being solid and reliable. As an economic recovery around the globe safely and slowly begins, we’re confident that offshore wind power will strongly contribute to providing jobs and energy stability at attractive prices.”

The 100 turbines together could generate enough green electricity to supply almost 1.2 million average UK homes with their annual electricity needs. At around 5.4 terawatt hours per annum that’s almost half of all the electricity used in the UK’s North East each year.

This announcement follows the recent news that Siemens Gamesa would also supply the turbines for innogy SE’s 342 MW
Kaskasi offshore wind farm, located 35 kilometres north of the island of Heligoland in the German North Sea.

The project's final investment decision is expected in the first quarter of 2021.


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