Glamox to light 100 wind turbine platforms for the Sofia Offshore Wind Farm

Glamox has won a contract from Dutch engineering company Bakker Sliedrecht, to provide specialist marine LED lighting for the foundation platforms for 100 14 MW offshore wind turbines for the Sofia Offshore Wind Farm, Dogger Bank. The platforms, pre-fitted with the marine-certified luminaires, will be installed from 2024 at the RWE-owned wind farm which is expected to be completed and generating power in 2026.

“We have undertaken many demanding power and automation projects and know very well how challenging the North Sea environment can be. Good lighting conditions are a cornerstone for safe operations and that’s why we chose a partner with a proven record in lighting offshore structures since the 1970s,” said Thijs van Hal, Head of Main Contracting, Bakker Sliedrecht.

“The offshore wind industry has ESG considerations top of mind for every facet of its operations. We are well-placed to help it ‘walk the talk’ with our highly energy-efficient LED luminaires that are specially built for offshore environments,” said Tommy Stranden, Chief Commercial & Sales Officer for Glamox’s Marine, Offshore & Wind division. “This latest win follows lighting projects from other companies to light substations and construction and support vessels for wind farms in the Dogger Bank area of the North Sea.”

For the Sofia Offshore Wind Farm, Glamox will provide 800 marine-certified LED luminaires, which will illuminate the platforms upon which the giant turbine towers will be installed. The luminaires include indoor and seawater-resistant outdoor linear LED luminaires and floodlights. These luminaires, which have a long life of 100,000 hours, are made with quality materials, are highly energy efficient, and designed to cope with harsh weather conditions.

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The wind turbine platforms will be located 195 km off the North East Coast of England in a 593 square km area of water which is roughly the size of the Isle of Man. They will be located in water ranging from 20 m - 35 m in depth and are 80 m and 90 m in length and weigh between 1,200 to 1,400 tonnes each. The turbines will be fitted without a transition piece and have a height of 252 m to the tip of the rotor blade – that is approximately 60 m less than the height of The Shard which is the UK’s tallest building. The Siemens Gamesa SG14 – 222DD turbines will generate 1.4 GW of power which is enough to power nearly 1.2 million UK homes. The wind farm will save more than 2.5 million tonnes of carbon emissions per year compared to the same electricity production using UK fossil fuels.