Ørsted’s Barrow Offshore Wind Farm off the UK’s Cumbrian coast has been in commercial operation for 20 years.
Located 7 kilometres south-west of Walney Island in the Irish Sea, Barrow comprises 30 Vestas V90-3.0 MW turbines with a combined capacity of 90 MW. The wind farm became commercially operational in 2006.
Barrow was one of the UK’s first commercial offshore wind farms and the first UK offshore wind project for what was then DONG Energy, now Ørsted. Centrica and DONG Energy originally developed the project as a joint venture, and DONG Energy acquired Centrica’s remaining 50 per cent stake in 2014, becoming the sole owner of the wind farm.
“Twenty years ago, Barrow was part of a pioneering generation of offshore wind projects that showed what could be achieved by taking turbines out to sea and harnessing the UK's abundant wind resource”, said Godson Njoku, Chief Generation Officer at Ørsted.
“Today, offshore wind is a fundamental part of the UK's energy system, but Barrow remains special to us. It was Ørsted's first UK project and has been the foundation for two decades of learning, innovation, and operational excellence.”
The company now has a portfolio of twelve offshore wind farms around the UK coastline, with a combined capacity of 5.7 GW.
Ørsted said the wind farm has also played an important role in the development of the offshore wind industry in Cumbria, where Ørsted's West Coast hub in Barrow-in-Furness has developed into a centre of excellence for offshore wind operations.