Pre-construction work underway at East Anglia Three offshore wind farm site

A pre-installation survey at the East Anglia Three offshore wind farm site is scheduled to begin in early January 2025, following subsea boulder clearance and scour protection work that was carried out in November 2024 and marked the start of offshore construction work.

The survey, which will be performed by Seaway7 and Beam using the vessel Glomar Worker, is expected to be completed by the end of January, according to a Notice to Mariners from ScottishPower Renewables.

The offshore pre-construction activities at the East Anglia Three site, located 69 kilometres off the Norfolk coast, began in early November with the relocation of boulders and non-geological debris, for which Seaway7 deployed the vessel Glomar Wave.

Around the same time, the company, in cooperation with Boskalis, mobilised the fallpipe vessel Rockpiper to install scour protection at the locations where wind turbine and offshore substation foundations will be installed.

The 1.4 GW East Anglia Three will comprise 95 Siemens Gamesa 14+ MW wind turbines, all of which are expected to be operational in 2026.

Seaway7 was selected as the preferred bidder for the project in 2022 and signed a contract in June 2023 for the transport and installation of 95 monopile foundations, associated seabed preparation and scour protection, and the engineering, supply, and installation of the inter-array cables.

Haizea Wind Group and the Navantia-Windar consortium are manufacturing the monopile foundations and transition pieces for the project, while the inter-array cables will be supplied by Hellenic Cables.

The 1.4 GW East Anglia Three is the second of ScottishPower Renewables’ East Anglia offshore wind farms to be developed and part of the East Anglia Hub which includes two other offshore wind farms: the 800 MW East Anglia One North and the 900 MW East Anglia Two.

The wind farm was awarded a Contract for Difference in July 2022 and ScottishPower, owned by Spanish Iberdrola, started onshore construction work the same month.