ScottishPower Renewables has picked Siemens as its preferred turbine supplier for the 1,200MW East Anglia One offshore wind farm in the UK.
Under the terms of the contract, the German multinational will deliver 102 of its 7MW turbines for the wind facility, which is being built 43km from the Suffolk Coast.
Construction of the facility is scheduled to start in 2017, with the first turbine installations forecasted to begin by 2019.
ScottishPower Renewables intends to turn the project fully operational by 2020, after which it will have the capacity to power around 500,000 homes.
More than 50% of the components for the £2bn project and the services will be manufactured and sourced from within the country.
Siemens will manufacture wind turbine blades for this project at its new facility in Hull, UK.
ScottishPower Renewables will supply power from the project at a cheaper cost of £119/MWh, compared to £140-£150/MWh offered by other offshore wind projects awarded during 2014.
The company will use advanced technology including larger and more efficient turbines to deliver power at lower cost.
Siemens Wind Power and Renewables Offshore CEO Michael Hannibal said: "Our advanced model of our proven Direct Drive wind turbine with an output of 7 MW will leverage the energy output of East Anglia One Offshore Wind Farm and contribute to lowering the cost of electricity.
"We will manufacture the wind turbine blades for East Anglia One at our new factory in Hull and work with ScottishPower to further promote the growth of the UK offshore industry."
The deal is the biggest to be ever concluded for a consented wind energy project in the country and has an estimated worth of £850m, reports Bloomberg.
ScottishPower Renewables CEO Keith Anderson said: "East Anglia ONE will be the most cost-effective offshore windfarm ever delivered.
"Selecting the turbine supplier will be the single largest agreement for East Anglia One, and the most significant in terms of achieving important cost-reduction goals."
UK Department of Energy and Climate Change secretary Amber Rudd said: "This massive financial investment is great news for East Anglia and for Hull, which will now become a real clean energy manufacturing hub.
"In addition to supporting thousands of UK jobs, this project shows we are driving down the costs of offshore wind; another demonstration of how the government is developing the full potential of the offshore wind sector at the lowest cost to bill payers."
Image: The offshore wind facility is likely to start operations by 2020. Photo: courtesy of Iberdrola.
