Siemens To Supply Wind Turbines To World’s Largest Floating Wind Farm

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Siemens has been contracted to supply 30 MW of wind turbines to what will be, upon completion, the world’s largest floating wind farm.

Siemens made the announcement last week, revealing that it had been contracted by Norwegian company Statoil to provide five of its SWT-6.0-154 direct drive offshore wind turbines for the 30 MW Hywind Scotland Project, an offshore floating wind project that is being developed 2 kilometers off the coast of Peterhead, in Aberdeenshire, Scotland.

The offshore wind turbines will be built upon floating foundations in water depths between 90 and 120 meters, and is expected to reach completion in the first half of 2017.

“We are proud to once again be on board the floating wind project with Statoil, and to apply the experience we gained with the first full scale floating turbine,” said Morten Rasmussen, Head of Technology at Siemens Wind Power and Renewables Division. “Hywind Scotland is another pioneering project and has the potential to become a trailblazer for future floating wind projects.”

The Hywind project is a Scottish pilot project for floating offshore wind parks, and aims to prove that they “can be both cost efficient and low risk.” In line with this, Siemens’ SWT-6.0-154 direct drive offshore wind turbine was chosen for its lightweight nacelles, which are perfectly suited for offshore floating wind applications.

The project was approved by the Scottish Government at the beginning of last month at the same time as Statoil made its own final investment decision to build the project.

“Statoil is proud to develop the world’s first floating wind farm,” said Irene Rummelhoff, Statoil’s executive vice president for New Energy Solutions. “Our objective with the Hywind pilot park is to demonstrate the feasibility of future commercial, utility-scale floating wind farms. This will further increase the global market potential for offshore wind energy, contributing to realising our ambition of profitable growth in renewable energy and other low-carbon solutions.”