Greater Gabbard is a 504 MW wind farm on sandbanks 23 kilometres off the coast of Suffolk in England constructed at a cost of £1.5 billion. It was completed in September 2012 with all of the Siemens SWT3.6-107 turbines connected. A joint partnership between SSE and RWE Innogy.
During the commissioning phase of the project we were contacted by the Project Management company charged with delivering the project. The brief was to assist with some wind turbine snagging items. We examined the scope of work required and developed safe and speedy solutions which were accepted by the client.
As an example one item was the replacement of some cabling located under the transfer platform (TP) while it would be possible to remove a section of flooring at the TP this procedure would have had knock on delays and would result in a requirement for recommissioning works. We proposed accessing the TP from beneath – this solution assisted in maintaining the project delivery schedule.
We mobilised a number of two man crews and reported to the dockland site office where we were inducted to site specific operations. Weather conditions were difficult. A seacat transferred the crews and equipment to the turbines and the boat remained in attendance for the duration of the works. The scope of work was addressed and the turbines were put back into production.
Collins Steeplejacks quick response and ability to work at sea meeting all client specific Health and Safety requirements resulted in the recommissioning of the turbine in a safe timely manner.
