SgurrEnergy Stays at Race Bank to Monitor Construction and Operations

SgurrEnergy has been awarded the construction monitoring contract of the 573MW Race Bank offshore wind farm, followed by a 15-year operations monitoring phase.

Located almost 17 miles off the Norfolk coast, Race Bank’s offshore array will comprise of 91 Siemens 6.3MW wind turbines.

The scope of the construction monitoring assignment includes regular monitoring of construction and installation, checking progress and confirming consistency with the final design and undertaking site visits including factory and a construction site visit.

The renewable energy and grid integration consultancy helped bring the project to financial close for Firebolt RB Holdings Limited – the investment holding company owned by Macquarie Capital and Macquarie European Infrastructure Fund 5.

Acting as technical advisor, SgurrEnergy’s engineers and consultants provided technical due diligence during the acquisition and project finance phases of the project.

SgurrEnergy carried out a review of key technical and commercial aspects of the project including permits and consenting, civil, electrical and mechanical design, project participants, construction and project contracts, project schedule, operations and maintenance and a financial model review.

Marc Costa Ros, project manager at SgurrEnergy, said: “As one of the UK’s largest offshore wind farms, Race Bank Wind Farm has the potential to make a real difference to the environment by providing clean, sustainable and predictable power for homes across the UK. We are extremely proud to be involved in such a project and look forward to working in close collaboration with Macquarie and the lenders involved in the project as we move into the construction and operation phases.” 

With offshore works already underway, Race Bank is expected to be in operation by early 2018. 50% of the wind farm is owned by Macquarie Capital and Macquarie European Infrastructure Fund 5, with the remaining half controlled by DONG Energy.

DONG is managing the completion of the construction phase under a construction management agreement.

The energy company has also entered into an agreement to provide operations and maintenance services from its O&M base in Grimsby and to provide a route to market for the power production and green certificates for Macquarie’s 50% share of Race Bank.