Dong Energy says that the demonstration of two 6 MW offshore wind turbines forms an important part of its strategy to reduce the cost of the technology.
The Danish utility has been granted consent to test the two machines at the Gunfleet Sands site off the UK. It will be the first time that the 6 MW Siemens machine has been tested offshore, and will be Dong Energy’s first demonstration project in the UK.
“The Gunfleet Sands 3 demonstration project marks an important step in industry’s efforts to reduce the cost of energy,” said Morten Buchgreitz, deputy CEO of Dong Energy Wind Power. “The Round 3 projects in the UK are in deeper waters and will have a much bigger capacity than existing wind farms so the technology will increase in capacity as well.”
Construction of the demonstration project will start in May and the turbines will be installed in November. They will be connected to the UK grid through a dedicated export cable.
Dong says that the objective of the demonstration is to verify turbine performance, reliability and functionality. “This demonstration project aligns with DONG Energy's ambitions to steer development in the wind industry towards industrialisation to make offshore wind power even more competitive,” said Buchgreitz.
The 6 MW turbine is a direct drive machine with a rotor diameter of 120 m and a swept area of 11 500 m2.
Dong Energy is a 50 per cent partner in the London Array offshore wind project, phase one of which is under construction and will feature 175 of Siemens’ 3.6 MW offshore turbine.
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