Commission date 2009 Type Offshore | Status Operational Owner(s) EWEE.ONVattenfall Make and model Senvion | |
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Alpha ventus offshore wind farm
Alpha ventus (former known as Borkum West) is Germany's first offshore wind farm. It is situated in the North Sea 45 kilometres (28 mi) north of the island of Borkum.
Contents
History
The application for construction of the wind farm near Borkum was submitted in 1999. The permit was given by the Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency in 2001. In 2007, contracts for supplying wind turbines were signed with REpower and Areva. That same year, a contract for the construction of a subsea cable connection to the German grid was signed. Construction of the alpha ventus substation started in July 2008. On July 15, 2009, the first wind turbine was installed and the first six turbines delivered by Areva went operational in August 2009. Installation of another six turbines delivered by REpower started in September 2009. Construction of the wind farm was completed on November 16, 2009 after a seven-month construction period. On April 27, 2010 the farm was officially opened and set into commercial operation.
Description
The wind farm is owned by Deutsche Offshore-Testfeld und Infrastruktur-GmbH & Co. KG, a joint venture of EWE (47.5%), E.ON (26.25%), and Vattenfall (26.25%). It consist of twelve turbines of which six turbines are 5 megawatt (MW) Adwen AD 5-116 (formerly known as Areva Multibrid M5000) and six turbines are REpower 5M. Turbines stand in 30 m of water and are not visible from land. The REpower turbines are installed onto jacket foundations (OWEC Jacket Quattropods) by the crane ship Thialf and Adwen turbines are installed onto tripod-style foundations by the jack-up barge Odin. In May 2010 two Areva Multibrid, generators went off service due severe overheating in their gearboxes. There is a pressure to Areva to replace all six turbines.
Due to delays, the cost of the project grew from 190 million to 250 million euro (US$270 to $357 million), or 4200 €/kW (6000 $/kW).
In 2011, the wind farm had the highest registered capacity factor of 50.8% of most European offshore wind farms. This was exceeded in 2012 with a capacity factor of 55%, a global record. The project team noted that the expected capacity factor of 42% was a considerable underestimation. However, in 2013 the capfac was 42.7%.
Research
Because it is the first offshore wind farm in Germany, alpha ventus is accompanied by several research projects sponsored by the Federal Ministry for Environment (BMU). In 2003, the research platform FINO 1 was built approximately 400 m to the west of the wind farm. Research interests include:
