Hywind Scotland – the world’s largest floating wind farm
Five Siemens Gamesa turbines of six megawatt class have been installed on floating foundations in Stord, Norway, at the 30 MW “Hywind Scotland” project, reportedly the world’s largest floating wind farm. The floating wind project is located 25 kilometers off the coast of Peterhead in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, at water depths between 90 and 120 meters.
“Siemens Gamesa views the floating wind farm market area the same way as we did with offshore wind farms in the early beginning: it is a very interesting area that is initially a niche market,” says Michael Hannibal, CEO of Offshore at Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy. “This niche may, however, develop over time into a large market. It is a niche in which we would like to build a strong position for this reason.”
The floating foundations in the Hywind project are ballast-stabilized and anchored to the seabed with mooring lines. With their lightweight nacelles, Siemens Gamesa large direct drive wind turbines are particularly suited for floating foundations, according to the company.
The Hywind concept reportedly proved it effectiveness in 2009, when Norwegian company Statoil and Siemens Wind Power successfully installed a 2.3 MW Siemens Wind Power turbine at the first full-scale floating wind turbine project worldwide, Hywind Demo. With the Scottish pilot project Siemens Gamesa and Statoil have been working closely to develop a concept for commercial and large scale offshore wind parks which is cost efficient and with low risk. Commissioning of the Hywind project is planned for the fourth quarter of 2017.
For more information, visit: www.gamesacorp.com/siemensgamesa
