Balfour Beatty to Build Onshore Substation for Dong

Balfour Beatty has been awarded a £12 million scheme to develop an onshore substation to facilitate the transfer of electricity from the Burbo Bank Extension wind farm in North Wales to the National Grid for Dong Energy.

The substation will be located at Bodelwyddan, south of the St Asaph Business Park in Denbighshire, where it will receive electricity from an 11km cable running inland from Rhyl.

Peter Commins, Balfour Beatty Delivery Unit Managing Director, North West and North Wales, said: “This scheme allows Balfour Beatty to work across a wide range of our capabilities from civil engineering and construction through to mechanical and electrical works.

“Supporting the desire of our customer, Dong Energy, to invest in local communities and through our long-established links to the local supply chain in North Wales, we are pleased to say we have already placed almost £4million of orders for this project with local businesses in Denbighshire and Conwy.”

The Burbo Bank Extension Offshore Wind Farm is located 8km off the UK coast in Liverpool Bay and is capable of generating up to 258 megawatts of clean energy to power approximately 180,000 homes.

The substation will measure approximately 120m by 75m. The scheme includes the construction of buildings and compounds, the installation of low voltage electricity equipment, low voltage cables, communication cables, roads, paths, drainage and landscaping, and the facilitation and supervision of the installation of high voltage components and cabling.

Balfour Beatty starts on site this month and is due to complete works in the summer of 2016.