World’s first floating offshore wind farm back online after ‘heavy maintenance’ – Equinor
World’s first floating offshore wind farm back online after ‘heavy maintenance’ - Equinor | Windpower Monthly
The five turbines at the world’s first floating offshore wind farm have been re-connected to the grid after a “heavy” maintenance campaign, the project’s developers confirmed.
Norwegian oil major Equinor and UAE state-owned Masdar’s Hywind Scotland project had been taken offline in January to allow for maintenance works to be carried out.
Siemens Gamesa’s five SWT-6.0-154 turbines were towed from the Scottish North Sea site to a port in Wergeland, western Norway.
“This was the safest, most efficient and proven method, as towing the turbines to shore allowed the operations to take place in a controlled, sheltered environment”, the developers claimed.
Trine Ulla, Equinor’s vice president of UK operations, said: “Through this maintenance campaign, we’ve gained valuable insights that will help us refine maintenance practices and optimise this technology for the future.”
Hywind Scotland was commissioned in 2017 and is the world’s first floating offshore wind farm.
Related Knowledge Center: ENERGY BASICS: wind
Decades of government support for the development of wind energy has resulted in lower costs and a rapidly growing share of electricity generated by wind turbines. Wind in 2019 accounted for 7.3 percent of electrical generation, surpassing for the first time hydropower at 7.0 percent.