ScottishPower Renewables’ East Anglia ONE windfarm team, based at OrbisEnergy in Lowestoft, has leant its support to the East Anglian community by making a donation to Lowestoft RNLI Lifeboat Station as part of this year’s East Anglian Dragon Boat Festival.
Held on 11th August, the annual event, organised by Gable Events, saw hundreds of residents from Lowestoft and the surrounding area come together to enjoy a day full of friendly competition and community spirit.
Staged on the banks of Oulton Broad, the festival is now in its twelfth year. This year, 18 teams from a range of local businesses took part in dragon boat races with the 11 man crew of ‘We’ve Got Wind’ from ScottishPower Renewables finishing in a respectable seventh place.
As part of the event ScottishPower Renewables made a donation to Lowestoft RNLI Lifeboat Station, whose volunteer lifeboat crew provides a 24 hour search and rescue service along the east coast to save lives at sea.
Matthew Wooltorton, ScottishPower Renewables, said: “We have recently started construction on our operations and maintenance base at Hamilton Dock, Lowestoft, which will be the home of our East Anglia ONE windfarm for the next 30 years. Being a part of the communities where we work is very important to us and having grown up in Lowestoft myself, the East Anglian Dragon Boat Festival is an event I have always enjoyed and it is great to have the wider East Anglia ONE windfarm team involved this year.
“It was fantastic to see the community unite in support of such a vibrant event while raising funds for good causes. Especially as our chosen charity, the Lowestoft RNLI Lifeboat Station, is intrinsically linked to where our East Anglia windfarms are located.”
The Beat the C crew from Norfolk Drywall triumphed overall in the Grand Final, however for those not competing in the races, there was plenty of entertainment on offer throughout the day, from inflatable games and funfair activities to food and drink.
Founded in 1824, the RNLI relies on public donations to maintain its service and as a charity it is separate from, but works alongside, government-controlled and funded coastguard services.
Paul Carter, Operations Manager at Lowestoft RNLI Lifeboat Station, said: “Our thanks go to ScottishPower Renewables for their kind donation which will aid us in our efforts to ensure the East Anglian coastline and sea remain safe environments for all those who visit, live and work along this fantastic coast.
“The Dragon Boat Festival is always a popular event for the Waveney area and one that raises a lot of money and awareness for local charities and good causes.”
ScottishPower Renewables’ East Anglia ONE windfarm will see 102 wind turbines installed in the southern North Sea, approx. 30 miles off the coast. The overall investment will be in the region of £2.5 billion, and the project is planned to meet the annual electricity demands of the equivalent nearly 600,000 homes*.
For more information about ScottishPower Renewables visit www.scottishpowerrenewables.com.
Notes to the Editor
About East Anglia ONE:
East Anglia ONE will see 102 wind turbines installed in the southern North Sea, approximately 30 miles off the coast. The overall investment will be in the region of £2.5 billion, and the project is planned to meet the annual electricity demands of the equivalent of almost 600,000 homes.
East Anglia ONE Offshore Windfarm project is likely to include:
- Offshore wind turbines and foundations (102 wind turbines to provide an installed capacity of 714 megawatts).
- An offshore substation to collect the electricity from the turbines and transform it to a form suitable for transfer to shore.
- Two offshore export cables, each around 85 km in length, to transfer the electricity to shore.
- A landfall site with onshore transition pits to connect the offshore and onshore cables.
- Six onshore underground cables, each of around 37 km in length, to transfer the electricity from landfall to an onshore converter station.
- An onshore substation adjacent to the existing substation at Bramford, Suffolk, to connect the offshore windfarm to the National Grid.
*Based on the following calculation: 714 MW (installed capacity) x 0.367 “offshore wind” average load factor (Digest of UK Energy Statistics) x 8,760 hours (hours per year)/3,900kwh (average domestic annual consumption) = 588,578 homes powered equivalent
About ScottishPower Renewables
ScottishPower Renewables is part of Iberdrola, a world leader in clean energy with an installed capacity of over 28,000MW, and the leading wind energy producer worldwide.
Responsible for progressing Iberdrola’s onshore wind and marine energy projects in the UK, ScottishPower Renewables also manages the development, construction and operation of offshore windfarms throughout the world and currently has 40 operational windfarm sites producing over 2,000 MW.