Allelys pulls the strings for Dogger Bank wind farm transformers delivery

UK’s largest family-owned heavy lift and specialist transport provider, Allelys, have provided the full service solution to offload, deliver and install four transformers, weighing 255 tonnes, at Dogger Bank Wind Farm.

The transformers were received in two shipments at Albert Dock in Hull, where the team lifted the vessels using Allelys’ LG1550 crane onto a 10 axle SPMT and shunted to a storage location for transhipment to the company’s 350 tonne girder frame trailer. They were then transported before the next shipment arrived.

The transformers, measuring 9.5 metres long, 4.9 metres wide and 4.9 metres high, were loaded into a 350 tonne girder frame and transported over four consecutive weekends to Creyke Beck Substation.

The transport arrangement, measuring 70 metres long and weighing 397 tonnes, had to navigate a challenging route, which included three structures that required bridge inspections and AIP’s to be submitted. The significant road works and road layout changes at Jock’s Lodge also posed a challenge, however Allelys identified and established a new route in advance of the project start date.

Once on-site, the units were also installed using a jacking and skidding system. The units were jacked up, the skid gear positioned underneath and then skidded into position in four separate bunds. Allelys used turntables to rotate three of the four transformers and a two directional skid for the final unit.

“We were involved at every stage of the project from completing letter drops, organising street furniture removal and temporary traffic management, through to project management and engineering support. To achieve four deliveries on consecutive weekends is a testament to the team’s hard work and ensured that the operation was completed on time.” said Zac Smout, senior project manager at Allelys.

The first Dogger Bank transformer was delivered in May, onboard the Eemslift Ellen to the Port of Hull, where Allelys took over the unit and delivered it to the first convertor station off the A1079 near Beverley in East Riding, where construction of a second convertor station is also underway by tier one supplier Hitachi Energy.

Dogger Bank wind farm

The £3.6 billion ($4.5 billion) Dogger Bank Wind Farm is being built in three phases known as A, B and C. The project is a joint venture between SSE Renewables (40 percent), Equinor (40 percent) and Eni Plenitude (20 percent).

It will be the first HVDC connected wind farm in the UK, paving the way for other UK wind farms and suppliers to build on our experience transmitting renewable energy safely and efficiently across long distances while minimising potential losses.

Last month the Dogger Bank Wind Farm team officially marked the start of its offshore construction work with the installation of the first length of HVDC export cable off the Yorkshire coast.

Tier one supplier NKT is leading the work to install the Dogger Bank A nearshore cable, that will connect the first phase of the wind farm more than 130km off the coast to a landfall point at Ulrome, in East Riding of Yorkshire.