German wind turbine manufacturer REpower Systems has won the contract to supply Vattenfall with the 30 five-megawatt power heads needed for the hybrid Ormonde wind/natural gas development in the North Irish Sea.
The package of nacelles and hubs will be manufactured at REpower’s offshore manufacturing and logistics centre in Bremerhaven, which is home of Germany’s far-sighted Luneort wind systems manufacturing complex.
The turbines will be required in time for the offshore construction phase to start in 2011. The units will initially be delivered to the Harland & Wolff shipyard in Northern Ireland for integration with their rotor blades and towers prior to load-out and installation on jackets, which are being manufactured by Scottish company Burntisland Fabrications (BiFab).
For REpower, this 150MW order is the largest offshore agreement to date for the UK. Several more large orders are under negotiation.
Ormonde construction will be carried out by Vattenfall and/or companies commissioned by the Swedish group. Operation and test-phase monitoring will be carried out by REpower. Vattenfall has also concluded a five-year offshore service agreement with REpower covering maintenance and repair of the 30 turbines as necessary.
Matthias Schubert, chief technology officer at REpower, said in a statement: “The conclusion of the Ormonde agreement is, once again, testament to the high level of confidence enjoyed by our offshore technology among customers across the world.”
David Hodkinson, head of UK development for Vattenfall Wind Power, said: “Vattenfall bought the Ormonde project last year (through the £51.8million cash acquisition of Eclipse Energy) and, since then, we have faced a number of issues, including the weakening of sterling and increased costs.
“Helped by the UK Government’s announcement to review the support offered to offshore windfarms facing such pressures, our project team has now been able to make this key investment decision for the project and we are very pleased to have entered into a firm contract with REpower for the project’s wind turbines.”
With a rated output of 5MW and a rotor diameter of 126m, REpower’s 5M machine is one of the largest and most powerful wind energy turbines in the world. The rotor consists of three rotor blades, each one 61.5m in length, and covers the area of two soccer fields; the nacelle is the size of two houses. Since 2004, REpower has erected 17 turbines of this type both onshore and offshore. The first two offshore units were installed in the UK’s Beatrice oilfield, on the north side of the Moray Firth.
As for the gas side of Ormonde, that is still gestating. According to the environmental impact assessment report of 2005, exploitation of the 50billion cu ft gas reserves will be undertaken via two drilling centres, Ormonde South and Ormonde North. Both locations lie in about 20m (65ft) of water and roughly six miles west of the nearest coastline at Walney Island, Barrow-in-Furness, and six miles north-west of the Barrow Offshore Wind Farm, which is now operational. The intention was to develop the two gas fields consecutively, the second being brought onstream once the first was depleted. Thus, drilling operations at the north location will take place about four years after those at Ormonde South.
Recommended for you
