Siemens Wind Power
When Siemens were chosen to supply turbines for London Array project a base was required to set up our offshore operations to support turbine installation, commissioning.
There were a number of possible locations, Ramsgate was the best choice for our operations. It has excellent access routes, has a sheltered port available 24hrs a day, it even had a local airport which was used by Siemens to fly personnel direct from Denmark to Ramsgate. It has space available for offices and stores, ample berthing on serviced pontoons for crew transfer vessels and good local services and contractors for supporting works, both on and offshore.
Siemens worked closely with the local team from Thanet District Council (TDC) with particular help from the Harbour Master and Port Engineer during the site setup, establishing buildings for storage, vessel berth, access routes and parking areas for our staff.
The port made many improvement’s to their facilities to accommodate various crew transfer vessel requirements, including updating quayside facilities for the largest vessel types.
Throughout the project Siemens used an offshore floatel vessel for our technicians, the Cbed – Wind Ambition. This converted RoRo car ferry came into port once a month for replacement of supplies and services. The port along with the agent ensured this vessel was turned around very efficiently in a timely manner.
Ramsgate now has a service centre for London Array, this is a base for offshore service operations running a team of engineers and technicians maintaining the wind farm.
This long term commitment and similar bases for other operators of wind farms confirms the choice of Ramsgate as being a good base for offshore operations along the Kent peninsula.
I look forward to working with TDC again in the future ……