Iberdrola has commissioned its first offshore wind farm in the United Kingdom. Called ‘West of Duddon Sands’, the site has 108 wind turbines that will be able to provide electricity to 280,000 British households.

West of Duddon Sands is the first offshore wind facility commissioned by Iberdrola. Built at a cost of €2 billion, and requiring over 200 kilometers of undersea cable in order to bring power to shore, the farm will supply electricity to 280,000 British households.

For its construction at sea, two cutting edge ships were used which were made expressly for this type of offshore work. Their formidable stability allowed the company to continue work on the farm during a very harsh winter that was characterized by heavy storms and strong winds.

The energy produced by this wind farm is collected at an offshore substation, which was specifically designed by Iberdrola’s engineering division in order to withstand the region’s harsh weather conditions. At this substation voltage is increased, and then two undersea cables transfer the power to an onshore substation at Heysham, which in turn is connected to the United Kingdom’s power grid.

British authorities recognized that “the infrastructure has successfully overcome numerous technological challenges”, and point out that its construction “employed the most advanced techniques and technologies”.

The wind farm is located about 20 kilometers off the coast from Barrow-in-Furness, in northwest England. The 108 turbines used by the facility were supplied by Siemens and have capacity of 3.6 megawatts each.