Gwynt y Mor windfarm: platform moved from Belfast to Wales

The project was a joint venture between Harland and Wolff in Belfast and Siemens

A 1,500-tonne platform is being transported from Belfast to the north coast of Wales on Monday.

The substation for the offshore windfarm, Gwynt y Mor, will be installed in Liverpool Bay and will power almost a third of homes in Wales.

It has been engineered by Siemens in Manchester and Harland and Wolff in Belfast.

It will be brought out by tugboats into the Irish Sea and is due to arrive in Wales on Tuesday.

Harland and Wolff sales manager David McVeigh said: "It is great to see these major projects designed and built in the UK.

"These projects utilise a vast range of UK products, equipment, services and personnel.

"The substations are a shining example of British companies working together to achieve great things."

Work began last week to lay undersea cables that will bring electricity ashore from the Gwynt y Mor windfarm.

A cable-laying ship landed on Pensarn beach near Abergele, Conwy, for the start of the three month operation.

The windfarm is due for completion in 2014 with 160 turbines producing enough electricity to supply 400,000 homes.