The 367MW scheme lies around 9 miles off the coast of Cumbria. It was constructed in two phases, Walney 1 and Walney 2, both made up of 51 turbines. Dong said the second phase was constructed in record time, with all turbines and cables installed in under five and a half months. The firm said last year that its industrialisation of the planning and construction of offshore wind farms – dubbed “the project factory” – would halve the construction time of Walney 2 from Walney 1.
Benj Sykes, Dong’s director of UK offshore wind operations, pointed out that it was also the first wind farm backed by institutional investors before it was built. That suggests investors are becoming more comfortable with offshore wind. OPW, a consortium of the Dutch pension fund service provider PGGM and the Ampere Equity fund, took a 24.8 per cent stake in the project in December 2010. SSE owns 25.1 per cent, Dong owns 50.1 per cent.