First Power

Lynn Offshore Wind Farm achieved first power on 15 March 2008 — the date Ofgem records as the project's commissioning date for Renewables Obligation accreditation purposes (RO Generator ID R00010RPEN). The Ofgem-recorded commissioning date is the first half-hour the wind farm generated metered electricity eligible for ROC accreditation, making it the authoritative first-power date for UK RO-accredited generators. The 97.2 MW project, owned at the time by Centrica Renewable Energy, comprises 27 Siemens SWT-3.6-107 turbines on monopile foundations and is located approximately 5 km off the Skegness coast of Lincolnshire in the North Sea, immediately alongside the sister Inner Dowsing project. Power exports to the National Grid via the shared Middlemarsh Substation in Skegness (PE24). Lynn was Centrica's first offshore wind project. Ofgem issued the formal RO accreditation thirteen days after commissioning on 28 March 2008. Although the first Lynn turbine entered service in March 2008, the combined 54-turbine Lynn & Inner Dowsing project (194 MW) was not fully commissioned until March 2009 — the official combined commissioning date reported by Centrica. The wind farms were sold by Centrica/EIG to a UK Green Investment Bank / BlackRock consortium in February 2016 and operations were subsequently transferred from Centrica to Siemens in March 2017. Source: REF Renewable Energy Foundation Generator Database, republishing Ofgem Renewables Obligation register data.