Progress with offshore wind contracts in the UK

Over the last nine months, ALE has performed almost 400 transport operations and executed over 300 lifts for multiple offshore wind contracts in the UK.

ALE has set up a dedicated facility and operations team who are working on several offshore wind projects throughout Europe.

ALE has been contracted for the supply and deployment of cranes, specialised transport equipment and personnel to perform the onshore heavy lifting, transport and pre-assembly for offshore wind operations.

In Hull, ALE has been executing the handling and pre-assembly of imported towers, nacelles and blades to be used on the Dudgeon offshore wind farm. With some rotor blades as long as 75m and nacelles as heavy as 360t, ALE are adopting a Ro-Ro process (where possible) instead of lifting to provide a safer and more cost effective method.  So far, all components have been loaded-out onto the vessel.

For the Race Bank and Galloper wind farms, ALE are providing a similar scope of work and are currently undertaking the pre-assembly operations for all wind components to be utilised on the respective wind farms. 

Dave Smith, Projects Operational Manager based in Hull who is managing these projects, said: “ALE has invested heavily in state of the art equipment, training and personnel specifically for these projects. We achieved several key milestones throughout all three projects so far and will continue to progress in our operations. Securing these contracts is a real indicator of ALE’s increasing presence in the developing renewable offshore industry and ALE’s commitment to servicing this market.”

The wind farm project sites include Green Port Hull, pre-assembly base for both the Dudgeon offshore wind farm 32km north of Cromer, Norfolk, which will generate 402MW of clean power, and the Race Bank offshore farm 27km north of Blakeney Point, Norfolk, generating 580 MW; pre-assembly base for the Galloper offshore wind farm 30km off the Suffolk coast, which will generate 336MW, is in Great Yarmouth.  These three projects will power over 1.2 million UK homes in total.