Scroby Sands Wind Farm aerial image
Scroby Sands aerial view - the long-shifting sandbank off the Norfolk coast, with the offshore wind farm now established on it. Over centuries these sands have caused many wrecks and claimed ships — SS Hopelyn (1922), SS Eastward (1918), Sea Queen (1870) and more — making it a notorious hazard in coastal navigation.
The Scroby Sands Wind Farm, commissioned in March 2004, was built by Powergen Renewables Offshore (then a division of E.ON UK). Today it is wholly owned and operated by RWE Renewables UK Limited.
Some technical & operational facts:
The farm has a nameplate capacity of 60 MW, sufficient to power tens of thousands of homes.
It consists of 30 wind turbines, each rated at 2 MW.
The turbines (rotors, nacelles etc.) were designed and manufactured by Vestas, a Danish company.
The foundations are hollow steel piles (about 4 m in diameter), driven up to 30 m into the seabed, to ensure stability on the shifting sands.
Over time, the sandbank has moved, causing parts of the seabed to rise and isolate some turbines from direct vessel access. RWE and partners have addressed this by developing a world-first amphibious crew transfer vessel (CRC Walrus) that can drive on sand and reach stranded turbines.
In August 2023 one turbine at Scroby Sands caught fire. Personnel were safely evacuated, and the incident is subject to investigation.
Scroby Sands Wind Farm aerial image
Scroby Sands aerial view - the long-shifting sandbank off the Norfolk coast, with the offshore wind farm now established on it. Over centuries these sands have caused many wrecks and claimed ships — SS Hopelyn (1922), SS Eastward (1918), Sea Queen (1870) and more — making it a notorious hazard in coastal navigation.
The Scroby Sands Wind Farm, commissioned in March 2004, was built by Powergen Renewables Offshore (then a division of E.ON UK). Today it is wholly owned and operated by RWE Renewables UK Limited.
Some technical & operational facts:
The farm has a nameplate capacity of 60 MW, sufficient to power tens of thousands of homes.
It consists of 30 wind turbines, each rated at 2 MW.
The turbines (rotors, nacelles etc.) were designed and manufactured by Vestas, a Danish company.
The foundations are hollow steel piles (about 4 m in diameter), driven up to 30 m into the seabed, to ensure stability on the shifting sands.
Over time, the sandbank has moved, causing parts of the seabed to rise and isolate some turbines from direct vessel access. RWE and partners have addressed this by developing a world-first amphibious crew transfer vessel (CRC Walrus) that can drive on sand and reach stranded turbines.
In August 2023 one turbine at Scroby Sands caught fire. Personnel were safely evacuated, and the incident is subject to investigation.