Wind turbine innovations & advances
WIND TURBINES
From increased turbine sizes to developments in foundations and cable manufacture, the industry continues to develop and adapt. Critics who once suggested that offshore wind costs were too high to be competitive are rapidly being silenced, writes Brent Cheshire, UK Country Chairman, DONG Energy.
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lobally costs are falling rapidly as the industry embraces economies of scale and engages with an increasingly switched on supply chain to ensure the technology is competitive with other energy sources.
Bigger wind farms using larger turbines have helped offshore wind establish its place as a leading source of renewable energy for UK homes.
Far from being alternative energy, as it was once called, this is now mainstream technology. Wind turbine manufacturers have been are working tirelessly to reduce turbine mass, allowing them to build taller and lighter structures so wind farms can harness more powerful winds at greater heights. Nothing illustrates this progress better than what is happening right now in Liverpool Bay. In September 2016 DONG Energy installed the first ever 8MW wind turbine at the Burbo Bank Extension offshore wind farm with the wind farm producing its first electricity in November.
At 195 metres, the turbines built by MHI
Vestas are taller than the Gherkin tower in London (180m).
Their blades have been designed, tested, and manufactured on the Isle of Wight and assembled at the manufacturer’s pre- assembly facility in Belfast. They are the first locally built blades to be installed at a UK offshore wind farm. Further demonstrating that developing the UK supply chain is a strategic priority for DONG Energy.
Once all 32 turbines are operational, sometime in early 2017, the wind farm will be capable of generating up to 258 MW of electricity, enough capacity to meet the annual electricity demands of approximately 230,000 UK homes.
This is not the first time DONG Energy has pioneered new turbine technology in Liverpool Bay. The extension project is being built alongside the existing Burbo Bank offshore wind farm which was also an innovative project for DONG Energy when constructed. Fully operational in 2007, it was the first
offshore wind farm to use the Siemens 3.6MW turbines now used widely across the industry. This jump in turbine size over a period of less than 10 years, illustrates the speed of technical progress being achieved in the industry.
But it is not just about growth in the scale of turbines as wind farms have been growing exponentially too. The original Burbo Bank, for example, is 10-square kilometres in area. DONG Energy’s Hornsea Project One will cover an area of 407 square kilometres. The potential for offshore wind to continue to drive the UK’s energy transition is enormous. The UK’s offshore wind sector can today produce over 5GW of electricity – enough to power well over four million UK homes. The last five years have been instrumental in achieving this significant milestone, with 3.7 gigawatts of capacity built in this short time span. By 2020, the total UK installed capacity
“The potential for offshore wind to
continue to drive the UK’s energy
transition is enormous. The UK’s
offshore wind sector can today produce over 5GW of electricity – enough to power well over four million UK homes.”
Brent
Cheshire, UK Country Chairman, DONG Energy
is set to climb to around 10GW and a further 10GW should be added by 2030. As a result, the offshore wind industry is now well placed to become a key pillar in the UK government’s industrial strategy, providing local jobs, commissioning local content and working to advance technology in a way that will provide the UK with a unique advantage in the budding sector. Increased adoption of this key renewable technology has a big role to play in addressing climate change while simultaneously bolstering energy security. The UK faces the challenge of ensuring the nation’s energy demands are met, as traditional generation sources are retired and new green technologies adopted to support the transition to a low-carbon economy.
www.dongenergy.co.uk
22 DECEMBER ‐ JANUARY 2017 UK POWER NEWS
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