The installation of wind turbines at sea Bashny.Net

To date, marine wind power plant is already well known recognized element of power supply in Northern Europe. There are open areas of the coast with excellent wind regime, which means huge potential. Wind turbines with a generating capacity of 4.3 Gigawatts are already installed in this region. In order to reduce the cost of marine wind energy, the process of innovation development and industrialization is vital.

Siemens has developed a gearless wind turbine, with a capacity of 6 megawatts, especially in the sea.





Together with its partner DONG Energy, Siemens has at the same time got immediately two birds with one stone: start and first application of a new construction of the vessel and the installation of two wind turbines of the six-megawatt class complete with rotor, carried out in record time — less than 24 hours each, in the framework of a demonstration marine project Gunfleet Sands III. Immediately after installing both turbines were subjected to a serious sea trials and tests.

Marine wind power plant Gunfleet Sands consists of two phases, Gunfleet Sands I and Gunfleet Sands II. The construction of the entire station, including two phases, began in September 2008. Commissioning took place in 2009 and the full utilization of wind power were received during the spring of 2010. The total capacity of the offshore wind farm is a 172 MW. Gunfleet Sands I consists of 30 turbines, each of 3.6 MW and Gunfleet Sands II from 18 turbines of the same power. Elektrostantsia located 7 km from Clacton-on-sea (seaside resort town, Essex, England) in the estuary North of the Thames.









Demonstration project Gunfleet Sands marks an important event for the industry, as it is a step towards reducing the cost of energy. The third phase of the project in the UK is in deeper waters and will have much more potential than the first two, for the technology of wind turbines also means an increase in productivity.

Interesting not only wind turbines, but the ship that is used for installation. Siemens calls it SEA INSTALLER, the idea of its establishment was that its use should reduce the cost of installing these gigantic turbines, especially considering the future development of the turbines in the 10 MW and more.





Siemens writes: "the Central component of the turbine is about 15 meters in length and has a diameter of about 6.5 meters. This wind turbine is specially designed for marine stations, based on the concept of gearless drive designed by Siemens. Due to the fact that turbine has about 50% fewer components and fewer rotating parts, can significantly reduce maintenance costs and weight. This will help to reduce the costs of marine technologies in the future."

And now the most interesting. This rotor has a blade diameter of 120 metres, but the next 6 MW model will have an even greater span of 154 meters. At the moment the smaller screw is used for the test. Loading and unloading of the screw is a very fine manipulation, accuracy and security are crucial.

Phase of a wind power plant Gunfleet Sands III is located 8.5 miles from the British shores. Here you can see the nacelle of the wind turbine, which rises to its final location on top of the rack.

These two 6 MW wind turbines were installed at the water depth of 13 meters, but the installation vessel SEA INSTALLER can install wind turbines in difficult conditions at depths of up to 45 meters.





"The installation vessel, whose length is 132 meters and 39 meters in diameter, has a built-in mechanism Samovodene – similar to Formula 1 cars, can transport and install the foundations, beams and rotor blades up to 10 wind turbines at a time. For his first mission the ship was loaded at the port of Esbjerg (Denmark) where he took on Board two new components 6 kW marine turbines manufactured by Siemens" — reported press release.

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