ENGIE Fabricom and Iemants, the consortium chosen by Dong Energy to build the Race Bank 1 offshore substation, have reported that the substation sailed from the ENGIE Fabricom site in Hoboken (Belgium) bound for the wind farm off England's east coast.
Shipping the substation requires meticulous planning and is only possible at high tide. The structure is 35 metres high and weighs 2,900 tonnes. On February 17, 2017, Race Bank 1 was removed from its base on the site and put on the pontoon in a process known as 'loading out'. March 5 between 7.30 and 8 a.m., various tugboats surrounded the barge. At 9 a.m., at high tide, the mooring lines were removed and the ship could sail away. The Race Bank wind farm consists of two substations and 91 6MW wind turbines and lies 27.0 kilometres off the coast of Norfolk The Race Bank wind farm has a total capacity of 573MW. The wind farm should be fully operational in 2018.