East Anglia ONE offshore wind farm project
East Anglia ONE is a £2.5bn offshore windfarm developed by Scottish Power Renewables off the coast of Suffolk. The complex project was designed to power over 500,000 homes across the region with clean, renewable energy, and consists of 102 wind turbines, generating a total of 715 megawatts. The windfarm is fully operational and started to produce clean, renewable energy in 2019.
The challenge
VolkerTrenchless Solutions was tasked with providing 163 horizontally directionally drilled High Density Polyethylene (HDPE) ducts, ranging from 50m long and 32mm in diameter, to 1,055m long and 800mm in diameter, across 21 different locations.
To bring power ashore, cables laid under the seabed made landfall just north of the port of Felixstowe. From here, these cables travelled 37km under roads, estuaries, rivers and protected ancient woodlands to a new inland substation.
The team also delivered topographical surveys of all drilling locations, ground investigations, calculations of duct suitability, drilling fluid pressure calculations and temporary works designs.
The scale and complexity of the project should not be underestimated. Aside from working in extremely challenging and fluctuating conditions, the team ensured that environmental management and sustainability were key priorities.
Environmental management
Each of the 21 project sites had a bespoke environmental handover procedure and was overseen by an environmental manager. Initiatives with local landowners to reuse and recycle materials saved hundreds of thousands of pounds by the time the project reached completion.
Project successes
In 2019, VolkerTrenchless Solutions won the UKSTT (United Kingdom Society for no dig Trenchless Technology) award for New Installation – Energy & Communications Sector – for the East Anglia One offshore windfarm project.
"We are delighted that VolkerTrenchless Solutions has won the New Installation – Energy & Communications sector award. This acknowledgement from UKSTT is a true testament to the fantastic work achieved during this complex and challenging project."
James Worth General manager, VolkerTrenchless Solutions