Dillinger heavy plate for the
offshore wind park Thanet

On September 23, 2010, Thanet, at this time the world’s largest offshore wind park, was opened off the coast of England.

It is located in the southwestern North Sea at the mouth of the Thames River, about 12 km northeast of the promontory Foreness Point on the coast of Thanet in the county of Kent.

Thanet consists of 100 wind turbines of the Vestas V90-3.0 MW model with a rotor diameter of 90 m and a rated capacity of respectively 3 MW, therefore a total of 300 MW. With the 45 square kilometre wind park, generated energy could provide up to 200,000 households with electricity.

The masts of the wind turbines tower 115 metres out of the water. In this particular location, the North Sea has a water depth of approx. 20 to 25 m.

These wind turbines stand on monopiles from Dillinger steel, predominantly with processed welded edges from our Heavy Fabrication division. A monopile foundation structure consists of a single hollow cylindrical pole with a current diameter of up to 5 m.

With its opening, Thanet displaced the Danish wind park, Horns Rev, as the most efficient offshore wind park, to which Dillinger also supplied plate (approx. 17,000 t) for the foundation structures (monopiles).