The first of two transformers for the Pen y Cymoedd wind energy project in Wales were successfully delivered to site recently. The delivery was the culmination of several months of on-site construction, manufacture and logistical planning:
ABB is creating the site's grid connection so that Vattenfall can start generating up to 228 MW when fully operational in 2017. The company's scope of works includes two substations linked by a 9.2km cable that will inject clean wind energy into the UK’s 400 kV transmission network.
The transformers have been manufactured at ABB's Bad Honnef transformer factory, Germany, each of which are each fitted with three tap changers and weigh in at around 125,000 kg. The extremely large units bound for the Pen y Cymoedd wind farm in Wales are more than six metres wide and eight metres long.
The journey which started in Bad Honnef saw the transformers travelling around 900km via road and sea to Swansea Docks in preparation for final delivery to Rhigos substation by road.
Bad Honnef is a specialist facility established in 1906 where ABB manufactures large power transformers with current ratings of over 100,000A. For the Pen y Cymoedd project, it produced two power transformers.
The large size of the units that ABB had to make special ‘abnormal load’ transport arrangements for the final leg of their journey from Swansea Docks to the substation site at Rhigos. The deliveries presented logistical challenges, especially since the company's Stone based project team managed the logistics once the units arrived into Swansea docks. This included a police escort and traffic management measures during a three-hour transportation window early on two consecutive Sunday mornings.
ABB also reached out to local businesses and residents directly and through media and traffic management services to ask them to play a part in the delivery by staying away from the site during the delivery window, ensuring that the team could work safely without onlookers.
A defining feature
ABB’s Site Manager Mick Walls said: “Power transformers are one of the defining features of a substation and now that the first has arrived at Rhigos, the site is really beginning to take shape. We hope that weather and traffic conditions will be kind to us a second time.”
Now that the first of the transformers have been unloaded on site and over the next six to eight weeks specialist from our Transformer Service Team will carry out installation of the transformers, using skilled personnel from the service team, as well as the support from a local crane hire subcontractor.
When it enters operation, the site will be the largest onshore wind farm in England and Wales. Vattenfall selected ABB for its ability to create the grid connection to Vattenfall’s timetable, ability to meet the conditions of the grid code and commitment to support Vinward investment into Wales by selecting local suppliers wherever possible.