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| Chubb Fire Offshore services and maintains numerous fire extinguishers at the site for better fire safety |
Fire safety has been one of the primary considerations in planning a new construction.
Chubb Fire Offshore is servicing and maintaining hundreds of fire extinguishers at one of the world's largest offshore wind farms, under construction off the Suffolk coast. Chubb is a business of UTC Fire & Security, a unit of United Technologies Corp.
SSE is developing the wind farm in a joint venture with RWE npower renewables. The project involves the installation of 144 Siemens 3.6MW wind turbines located around two sand banks known as Inner Gabbard and The Galloper in the North Sea, near Greater Gabbard.
Fire safety has been one of the primary considerations in planning the new construction, and three Chubb extinguishers a combination of dry powder and CO2 – have been installed on each of the project's 144 foundation monopiles. As James Moran, Engineering Support for SSE at Sepam explains: "Fire extinguishers form an important part of our safety," he says. "Chubb has a reputation for innovation and is one of the few fire safety providers to work to specific offshore regulations - we have not been disappointed with the work carried out."
The first turbines have been commissioned, and the first export of electricity will shortly take place. The entire wind farm remains scheduled to be completed in 2012.
John Newton, Branch Manager, Chubb Fire Aberdeen, says offshore energy production is a field in which Chubb has many years of experience: "Wind farms, like oil rigs, need expert fire systems in place to ensure the safety of staff, the surroundings and the equipment," he says. "Extinguishers form one of the first lines of defence against the threat of fire."
