UK’s biggest blades take flight as East Anglia THREE turbine smashes offshore wind record
Britain’s offshore wind ambitions reached a towering new milestone this week as ScottishPower and Masdar hoisted the first turbine into position at their £4 billion East Anglia THREE windfarm, fitted with the largest blades ever installed in UK waters.
Each of the three blades stretches 115 metres, longer than a Premier League pitch and seven metres beyond the previous British record, also held by manufacturer Siemens Gamesa. All 285 blades destined for the project’s 95 turbines are being rolled off the production line at the firm’s Hull factory, in a significant boost for the city’s burgeoning role as a hub for British wind manufacturing.
Standing 262 metres from sea level to blade-tip when fully erect, taller than the observation deck of London’s Shard, the 14MW Siemens Gamesa machines have a rotor diameter of 236 metres. A single rotation will generate enough electricity to power a UK home for more than four days, charge roughly 1,700 mobile phones, or brew nearly a thousand cups of tea.
When fully operational, the 1.4GW scheme off the Suffolk coast will rank among the largest offshore windfarms anywhere in the world, supplying clean power to the equivalent of 1.3 million British homes.
Charlie Jordan, chief executive of ScottishPower Renewables, hailed the moment as a “defining” one for the UK industry. “This is a UK industry first for ScottishPower, Iberdrola and Masdar as we celebrate and accelerate the deployment of homegrown renewable energy at scale,” he said.
“East Anglia THREE will be the biggest and most powerful offshore windfarm in our portfolio. That means billions of pounds invested in UK and global supply chains, thousands of jobs supported during construction, more than a hundred long-term roles created in the East of England, and greater energy security, with more clean power coming on to the grid than ever before.”
The project marks a flagship collaboration between Spanish-owned ScottishPower’s parent Iberdrola and Abu Dhabi’s clean energy giant Masdar. Husain Al Meer, Masdar’s director of global offshore wind, called the installation “a truly monumental achievement” and signalled the developer’s wider European appetite.
“We see tremendous potential for offshore wind, not just in the UK but across the wider European market, where offshore wind can provide critical energy security, power economic progress and help nations achieve their clean energy objectives,” he said.
For Hull, the project further cements the Humber’s position at the heart of Britain’s offshore wind supply chain. Siemens Gamesa now employs more than 1,400 people at the East Yorkshire facility, with a long-running apprenticeship scheme bringing through the next generation of skilled workers.
Darren Davidson, UK head of Siemens Energy and Siemens Gamesa, said: “These are the biggest blades ever built for a project in UK waters, a real landmark for offshore wind. We’re proud that these record-breaking blades have been manufactured at our factory in Hull.”
Installation has been entrusted to Danish specialist Cadeler, whose O-class Wind Osprey jack-up vessel lifted the first turbine into place. It will be joined later this month by sister vessel Wind Pace, a next-generation P-class unit purpose-built for the larger turbines now coming to market, on its maiden European deployment.
Mikkel Gleerup, Cadeler’s chief executive, said the dual-vessel approach would allow a “consistent and efficient installation pace throughout the campaign”, adding that Wind Pace “brings increased capacity and operational flexibility” to the programme.
With ministers under pressure to revive momentum behind the UK’s offshore wind pipeline following recent auction setbacks and supply chain pressures, East Anglia THREE’s record-breaking start offers a welcome shot in the arm for an industry central to Britain’s net zero ambitions.
