With the same precision as a Swiss watch, the project team behind Anholt Offshore Wind Farm has just erected the first wind turbine in the wind farm - and this completely according to plan. A clearly proud project director talks about the installation.
"We have known all along that the weather could be a challenge during erection of the wind turbines. If the wind speed exceeds 10 metres per second, we will have difficulties sailing to the site and we have to wait for the weather and the winds to improve. Therefore I'm extremely pleased that the team behind Anholt Offshore Wind Farm has succeeded in erecting the first wind turbine completely according to plan in early September, and will deliver at the agreed deadlines," says Flemming Thomsen, Senior Director and Project Director of Anholt Offshore Wind Farm.
Anholt: An important step on the way
Anholt Offshore Wind Farm adds another 200MW offshore wind power to our portfolio. In fact, the wind farm has a total capacity of 400MW, but in 2011, PensionDanmark and PKA became co-owners of the wind farm with an owner share of 50%.
Seen in the light of our highly ambitious project pipeline, where we in the coming three years will double our offshore capacity, Anholt only contributes with a modest share. But still it plays a central role in the learning curve we are experiencing when it comes to developing offshore wind power.
"The Anholt Wind Farm is a good example of how far we've come in developing offshore wind farms. This is the fifth project in a row where we use Siemens 3.6MW wind turbines and the installation process has been optimised. In 2009, at the Gunfleet project we installed a wind turbine in 71 hours on average, and at the Walney project in 2011, it took 41 hours to install a wind turbine. At Anholt we want to install a wind turbine in under 30 hours," says Christina Grumstrup Sørensen and continues:
"We use experience that we've already gained, which is completely in line with the grand vision of the industry, that isto make offshore wind power competitive compared to energy produced by means of fossil fuels In future, we will not only have to refine this process that Anholt is a part of. We must also take other major steps which we for instance have done with our recent framework agreement with Siemens on the 6MW wind turbine. This is a major strategic decision which will bring us significantly closer to our goal of reducing the cost of energy."