Lincs Wind Farm

Lincs Wind Farm is an offshore wind farm project in England, in the North Sea near the Skegness coast. A consortium of investors in renewable energy, including Ørsted, operates this project.

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Where is the Lincs Wind Farm?

Lincs Wind Farm is located in the north sea, east of England and within the UK territorial shelf, 8 kilometers off the Skegness coast. The operating base of the project is in Port Grimsby, the largest operations and maintenance base globally, and which houses the O&M teams for 4 of Ørsted’s wind farms.

The project is located in the North Sea, east of England. It is within the UK territorial shelf, 8 kilometers off the Skegness coast. The operating base of the project is in Port Grimsby, the most extensive operations and maintenance base globally, which houses the O&M teams for 4 of Ørsted’s wind farms.

The export cables are buried in the seabed before landfall on River Nene’s east.

What is the project history?

Walpole onshore substation was expanded in 2009 to accommodate the capacity of the Lincs Offshore Wind Farm and to connect the wind power to The National Grid network. The additional extension at Walpole was necessary to step up the 132 km from the farm to 400 kV required for grid connection.

Siemens Transmission started the offshore substation after Ørsted installed the foundations in 2011. These activities coincided with the installation of monopiles from 2010 to 2012, drilling operations, and completion of the onshore substation in 2011. Onshore works, meanwhile, began as early as 2010.

Ørsted reached the final investment decision in September 2009 and started construction in 2010. The UK Government issued a Renewable Obligation Certificate (ROC) for 20 years. The consortium started construction in 2010, or else they would not have qualified for the ROC. They financed the loan in 2012.

The project owners committed £575 million in 2011 for the project and secured the £1 billion project with the 2012 investment of £425 million.

Who owns Lincs Offshore Wind Project?

The rights to the Lincs project were originally owned by Renewable Energy Systems, who then sold 100% of the stake to Centrica in 2004. After the final investment approval by Centrica in September 2009, Siemens project ventures and Ørsted (formerly DONG energy) bought 50% of the project equity in December 2009. Until January 2017, Centrica owns the majority 50% of the stake in the joint venture, while 50% equity shared equally by Ørsted and Siemens. The three companies also shared the financing of the project, while obtaining the rest of the project finance from 10 different banks. TC lincs OFTO owns the transmission assets of the project for the cost of £308 million in 2014. In January 2017, Green Investment Bank plc bought the combined 75% stake of Siemens and Centrica and now owns the majority together with the 25% stake of Ørsted. Ørsted manages the wind farm and is in charge of the operations for 15 years. As of April 2022, ORIT agreed to purchase a 7.75% ownership in the farm.

Renewable Energy Systems initially owned the rights to the Lincs project, which sold 100% of the stake to Centrica in 2004.

After the final investment approval by Centrica in September 2009, Siemens project ventures and Ørsted (formerly DONG Energy) bought 50% of the project equity in December 2009.

Until January 2017, Centrica owned 50% of the stake in the joint venture, while 50% equity was shared equally by Ørsted and Siemens. The three companies also shared the project financing while obtaining the rest of the project finance from 10 different banks.

TC Lincs OFTO owns the transmission assets of the project for the cost of £308 million in 2014.

In January 2017, Green Investment Bank bought the combined 75% stake of Siemens and Centrica and now owns the majority. Ørsted still has its 25% stake. Ørsted still manages the wind farm and has been in operations for 15 years.

As of April 2022, ORIT agreed to purchase a 7.75% farm ownership.

How large is the Lincs offshore wind farm project?

The project covers 35 square kilometers in the North Sea.

When was the first power of Lincs Wind Farm?

Power generation started in August 2012 and was commissioned in 2013. The commissioning in September 2013 was just four years after the final investment decision in September 2009.

The power technology from the project will last for up to 20 years, as the electrical equipment and turbines would need replacements after two decades to continue the farm operation up to its expected lifespan of 40 years.

How much total wind power the project produce?

The wind farm has a capacity of 270 MW, 250 MW from its operations, and 20 MW from the neighboring Lynn and Inner Dowsing Wind Farms.

The project has produced 8,543 GWh of electricity for The National Grid over almost nine years of fully operating. The offshore wind farm ranks 15th in the UK regarding installed capacity.

Lincs Wind Farm Turbines

Lincs Wind Farm utilizes 75 wind turbines to generate an average of 1,017 gigawatt-hours per year since its first full operational year in 2013. All turbines were installed in a single phase. Siemens designed and manufactured the now off-the-market turbine. Siemens SWT-3.6-120, which was upgraded from the original 107 diameter turbine intended for the project. The turbine model is no longer available in the market as of 2022. The turbine has a swept area of 11,300 square meters, cut-in speed of 3.5 meter per second, rated speed of 12 meters per second, and cut-out speed of 25 meter per second. Each offshore wind turbine had an installed capacity of 3.6 MW.

The project utilizes 75 wind turbines to generate an average of 1,017 gigawatt-hours per year since its first full operational year in 2013. Ørsted installed all turbines in a single phase.

Siemens Gamesa designed and manufactured the SWT-3.6-120 wind turbine. This turbine’s capacity factor is 3.6 MW. The total wind farm capacity factor is 270 MW.

The turbine has a swept area of 11,300 square meters and a cut-in speed of 3.5 meters per second. The rated speed is 12 meters per second and the cut-out speed of 25 meters per second.

Is it a fixed or floating foundation?

The turbines in the wind farm project all have monopile foundations, which were installed by MT Højgaard and were installed in June 2012.