Next generation wind turbine on test

In the world’s northernmost wind farm at Havøygavlen, in Finnmark county, Statoil is to test next generation turbine technology. The innovation is a promising gearless turbine.

The new turbine promises to achieve significant reductions in operation and maintenance costs for offshore wind power, Statoil says. One of the biggest challenges with developing offshore wind power is the major cost involved in repairs and maintenance out at sea.

“If an offshore wind turbine breaks down, there are many factors contributing to increased downtime compared with a land-based turbine,” explains operations manager for wind energy in Statoil, Sverre Trollnes.

According to Trollnes, a common cause of problems with today’s turbines has been lack of robust design and component selection.

Statoil’s supplier Siemens has developed a gearless turbine that represents a major step forward in the simplification of the technology – and which promises to reduce maintenance by 20%.

Siemens are now manufacturing a trial series of 10 wind turbines – and one of these is earmarked for Statoil’s wind farm at Havøygavlen, as part of Statoil’s initiative ‘Bringing cost of offshore wind down.’

The goal of the programme is to qualify the technology for developing offshore projects, primarily the gigantic Dogger Bank wind farm in which Statoil is a partner, through the industry consortium Forewind.

“By taking part in Siemens’ certification programme, we are learning more about this technology, and can eliminate teething troubles. It’s also far easier to influence the design at an early stage,” he explains.

The turbine will be installed starting on September 15, and after testing and commissioning has been completed, the turbine will become operational in the fourth quarter of 2010.

(Press release)

Thursday, 09 September 2010 06:49