BABCOCK Mission Critical Services Onshore has won a multi-million pound contract to provide specialist helicopter support to the Walney Extension offshore windfarm.

Danish company Dong Energy is developing the wind farm, which will be the largest in the world when it becomes operational early in 2018, with 87 turbines providing clean electricity.

The helicopter support contract runs for five years from 2018.

It will see Babcock operate a new hoist-equipped H135 aircraft to transport people and cargo to and from the windfarm from Walney Airfield. Helicopters are seen as more reliable than boats, which cannot operate in high seas.

The aircraft will be custom-configured by Babcock to Dong's specifications.

Dong Energy has already submitted a planning application for development of an aircraft hangar within Walney Airfield.

Barrow Borough Council is expected to grant planning consent shortly. The scheme will also require approval by the Civil Aviation Authority.

Tim Shattock, managing director of Babcock Mission Critical Services Onshore, said: “We have decades of experience in providing safe and reliable helicopter operations, including for offshore windfarms, and we are delighted to be selected to provide critical support to such a large and prestigious project.

“Helicopters are the most effective and efficient way of ensuring the right people and equipment are in the right place to keep the windfarm operating.”

Walney Extension will have a capacity of 660MW, enough energy for 360,000 homes, surpassing the 630MW London Array Offshore Wind Farm, commissioned in 2014 by Dong and its partners, and the largest in the world.

Combined with Dong's three existing wind farms - Barrow, Walney Offshore, and West of Duddon Sands - total capacity off the Furness coast will be sufficient to power 950,000 homes.

The windfarm is being constructed under the UK's Electricity Market Reform regime, which is designed to attract investment in energy-generation projects.

This guarantees Dong a fixed price for the electricity generated in the first 15 years of the windfarm's operation.

Mr Shattock added: “This new contract will create or sustain jobs for pilots, hoist operators, engineers and meteorological officers who will provide and verify vital local weather information for us which will maximise the efficiency of the operation.”

Babcock International is one of the UK’s largest engineering support services companies, delivering complex and critical projects. It is a major player in nuclear decommissioning at Sellafield.