World’s First Floating Wind Farm To Undergo First Major Maintenance Campaign, Turbines To Be Towed To Norwegian Port
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on offshoreWIND.biz.
This is the sub-heading.
The world’s first commercial-scale floating wind farm, the 30 MW Hywind Scotland, officially entered the operations and maintenance (O&M) phase in October 2017. After a little over six years of operation, the wind farm’s Siemens Gamesa wind turbines are now due for some major maintenance work.
And this is the first paragraph.
While offshore wind farms undergo turbine maintenance work more than once during their lifespans and tasks such as major component exchange are nothing uncommon, this is the first time a campaign of this kind will be done on a floating farm.
Hywind Scotland has a web site, where this is said on the home page.
The world’s first floating wind farm, the 30 MW Hywind Scotland pilot park, has been in operation since 2017, demonstrating the feasibility of floating wind farms that could be ten times larger.
Equinor and partner Masdar invested NOK 2 billion to realise Hywind Scotland, achieving a 60-70% cost reduction compared with the Hywind Demo project in Norway. Hywind Scotland started producing electricity in October 2017.
Each year since Hywind Scotland started production the floating wind farm has achieved the highest average capacity factor of all UK offshore windfarms, proving the potential of floating offshore wind farms.
This news item from Equinor is entitled Equinor Marks 5 Years Of Operations At World’s First Floating Wind Farm, says this about the capacity factor of Hywind Scotland.
Hywind Scotland, located off the coast of Peterhead, Scotland, is the world’s first floating offshore wind farm and the world’s best-performing offshore wind farm, achieving a capacity factor of 54% over its five years of operations. Importantly, Hywind Scotland has run to high safety standards, marking five years of no loss time injuries during its operation.
Any capacity factor over 50 % is excellent and is to be welcomed.
Maintaining A Floating Wind Farm
One of the supposed advantages of floating wind farms, is that the turbines can be towed into port for maintenance.
This first major maintenance of a floating wind farm, will test that theory and hopefully provide some spectacular pictures.
eDNA Pilot Study Completed At World’s First Floating Offshore Wind Farm
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on offshoreWIND.biz.
This is the sub-heading.
Equinor and Norwegian Research Centre (NORCE) have completed a pilot study using environmental DNA (eDNA) to monitor the biodiversity and abundance of marine life in waters around the 30 MW Hywind Scotland floating offshore wind farm.
This is the first paragraph.
Equinor and Norwegian Research Centre (NORCE) have completed a pilot study using environmental DNA (eDNA) to monitor the biodiversity and abundance of marine life in waters around the 30 MW Hywind Scotland floating offshore wind farm.
And this paragraph outlines methodology and objectives of the study.
By analysing the eDNA content in water samples, Equinor and NORCE were able to measure the biodiversity of fish species in the water surrounding Hywind Scotland. This pilot study was conducted to learn more about the potential effects that floating offshore wind farms may have on marine habitats.
The research identified 26 fish species and a harbour porpoise in the area.
According to the article, an often used method to analyse fish species is to trawl and analyse.
Surely, just to collect the eDNA from the water, is a method, that has the least effect on the fish, any porpoises and the environment.
World’s First Floating Offshore Wind Farm Celebrates Five Years Of Operation
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on offshoreWIND.biz.
This is the sub-heading.
Hywind Scotland, the first floating offshore wind farm in the world, has passed five years in operation since its commissioning in 2017.
And this is the first paragraph.
According to Equinor, Hywind Scotland is the world’s best-performing offshore wind farm, achieving a capacity factor of 54 per cent over its five years of operations.
Note.
- Hywind Scotland is a 30 MW wind farm with five turbines.
- The capacity faction is much higher than a windfarm with fixed foundations.
- The water depth is between 95 and120 metres.
- The wind farm is 30 km. off Peterhead.
There is at least 15 GW of floating wind farms being planned in UK waters before 2030.
Conclusion
The wind farm has made a good start for the first floating wind farm.
Full Story Of Hywind Scotland – World’s First Floating Wind Farm
The title of this post, is the same as that of a YouTube video.
I’m posting this, as I spent an enjoyable few months, doing simulations for a similar structure from a company called Balaena Structures, that had been founded by two engineering professors from Cambridge University.
Their structure was to be used as an oil or gas platform.
- It would have been built horizontally in a dock, where you might build supertankers.
- It would have been launched and then erected to a vertical position.
- Equipment would then have been craned on top.
- The professors also talked of it being held in place by means of the gumboot principle and the large weight.
- It was also designed to be reusable.
Sadly, they never sold an example.
I said more about my involvement with Balaena Structures in Are Floating Wind Farms The Future?.
Shell And ScottishPower Win Bids To Develop 5 GW Of Floating Wind Power In The UK
The title of this post, is the same as that of this press release from Shell.
This is three paragraphs from the press release.
Shell and ScottishPower have secured joint offers for seabed rights to develop large-scale floating wind farms as part of Crown Estate Scotland’s ScotWind leasing. The partners have won two sites representing a total of 5 gigawatts (GW) off the east and north-east coast of Scotland.
The new wind farms will be delivered through two joint ventures called MarramWind and CampionWind. They bring together ScottishPower’s and Shell’s decades of experience working offshore and significant presence in Scotland, as well as their strong innovation capabilities for delivering world-class offshore energy projects.
The development, construction and operation of ScotWind projects is set to bring new skilled jobs and manufacturing opportunities and boost local supply chains.
ScottishPower are actually involved in three large ScotWind projects; one by themselves and two in partnership with Shell.
MacHairWind
MachairWind is a project that Scottish Power is developing alone.
- It has its own page on the ScottishPower Renewables web site.
- It will be a 2 GW wind farm to the North-West of Islay.
- The turbines will be on fixed foundations.
I wrote about this project in MacHairWind Wind Farm.
MarramWind And CampionWind
These two wind farms are being developed in partnership with Shell.
They both have their own web sites.
MarramWind’s web site has this introduction.
ScottishPower and Shell have joined forces to develop the MarramWind offshore windfarm following success in the recent ScotWind auction process by Crown Estate Scotland.
Located 75 kilometres off the North East coast of Scotland in water depths averaging 100 metres, the proposed MarramWind floating offshore windfarm could deliver up to 3 gigawatts (GW) of cleaner renewable energy.
This map clipped from the MarramWind web site, shows the location of the wind farm.
CampionWind’s web site has this introduction.
ScottishPower and Shell have joined forces to develop the CampionWind offshore windfarm following success in the recent ScotWind auction process by Crown Estate Scotland.
Located 100 kilometres from the east coast of Scotland, in water depths averaging 77 metres, the proposed CampionWind floating offshore windfarm could deliver up to 2 gigawatts (GW) of cleaner renewable energy.
This map clipped from the CampionWind web site, shows the location of the wind farm.
Note.
- The two wind farms will be within a few miles of each other.
- Both wind farms will use floating wind turbines.
- The water is a bit deeper at MarramWind, but this surely doesn’t bother a floating turbine.
- MarramWind and CampionWind will have a total capacity of 5 GW.
- Hywind Scotland is the world’s first commercial wind farm using floating wind turbines, situated 29 kilometres off Peterhead. This wind farm is only 30 MW, but in its first years of operation has achieved a capacity factor of over 50 %.
- The proposed turbines at Northern Horizons‘ 10 GW wind farm, which is 130 kilometres to the North-East of Shetland will be 20 MW giants and nearly as tall as The Shard in London.
So will Scottish Power and Shell design and build a combined field, similar in concept to Northern Horizons’ wind farm, using an armada of 250 floating wind turbines?
- The wind turbines might be moored around a fixed or floating mother platform or structure, that will collect the electricity and deliver it to the shore.
- Turbines could be serviced in situ or moved into port, as needed.
- Extending the wind farm could just be a matter of mooring the extra turbines in position and then connecting them to the mother platform.
- Is there a convenient disused oil or gas platform, that could be repurposed as the mother platform?
It certainly would appear to be a way of building large offshore fields in deep waters.
Where Would The Combined MarramWind And CampionWind Rank In Terms of UK Wind Farms?
Consider.
- MarramWind and CampionWind will have a total capacity of 5 GW.
- Phase one of the Hornsea Wind Farm is the largest offshore wind farm in the world, with a capacity of just over 1.2 GW and when complete it will have a capacity of 6 GW.
- Northern Horizons is planned to be 10 GW.
- The East Anglian Array could be as large as 7.2 GW.
- The Dogger Bank Wind Farm is planned to be as large as 4.8 MW.
- Norfolk Vanguard and Norfolk Boreas are a pair of 1.8 GW wind farms.
- MacHairWind will be a 2 GW wind farm.
Note.
- This is not a complete list of large wind farms in the development pipeline.
- BP have obtained leases, but have not published their plans.
- Most farms under development are at least one GW.
- These farms are a total of 38.6 GW.
The Combined MarramWind and CampionWind would be one of several large wind farms around 5 GW.
There Is A Desperate Need For Energy Storage
If we are generating upwards of 40 GW of wind and solar energy in the UK, there will be a desperate need for energy storage to cover for the times, when the wind doesn’t blow and the sun doesn’t shine.
Scotland should be OK, as there are various energy storage projects in development.
- The 1.5 GW/ 30 GWh Coire Glas project is according to SSE shovel-ready and has planning permission.
- The 450 MW/2.8 GWh Red John project is being constructed.
- Drax, ILI Group and SSE have several other projects under development.
So what would happen in the South?
The government appears to be on the case as I wrote in Ministerial Roundtable Seeks To Unlock Investment In UK Energy Storage.
But there is also the possibility of using hydrogen.
- Hydrogen could be created by a series of giant electrolysers.
- It could be blended with natural gas to eke out our natural gas and save carbon. According to HyDeploy, it appears that up to 20 % can be added, without needing to change boilers and appliances.
- It can be stored in depleted offshore gas fields.
- It can be used to power heavy transport like buses, trucks, trains and ships.
- It can be burned in gas-fired power stations to generate electricity.
Hydrogen can also be used as a feedstock or green energy source for the making of chemicals, concrete and steel.
Conclusion
We are approaching the end of the first phase of the development of renewable energy in the UK.
Massive floating wind farms using armadas of floating wind farms, a large expansion of pumped storage hydro and a huge expansion of the use of hydrogen will see us through to a carbon-free future.
The Anonymous Widower 