Despite one hurricane, one winter storm and wave heights up to 8.2m, Hywind Scotland — the world’s first floating wind farm — performed better than expected during its first three months in operation.
The 30MW wind farm, which is run by Statoil in partnership with Masdar, is located 25km off Peterhead in Aberdeenshire, and it is producing enough electricity to power around 20,000 UK households.
During the winter, when the wind is at its strongest, the typical capacity factor for a bottom-fixed offshore wind farm is 45-60%.
By comparison, Hywind Scotland achieved an average of about 65% during November, December and January.
Beate Myking, Statoil’s senior vice-president of offshore wind operations (
www.statoil.com), said: “We have tested the Hywind technology in harsh weather conditions for many years, and we know it works, but putting the world’s first floating wind farm into production comes with some excitement, so it is very encouraging to see how well the turbines have performed so far.
“Hywind Scotland’s high availability has ensured that the volume of electricity generated is substantially higher than expected.”
Hywind Scotland’s first encounter with harsh weather conditions was Hurricane Ophelia in October, when wind speeds of 80mph were recorded, but theose speeds were surpassed during Storm Caroline in early December, when gusts over 100mph and waves over 8.2m were recorded.
The wind turbines shut down for safety reasons during the worst of those winds, but they automatically resumed operation promptly afterwards. A pitch motion controller integrated with the Hywind turbine’s control system adjusts the angle of the blades during strong winds to prevent excessive motion of the structure.
Irene Rummelhoff, Statoil’s vice-president for New Energy Solutions, said: “Knowing that up to 80% of the world’s offshore wind resources are in deep waters (over 60m), where traditional bottom-fixed installations are not suitable, we see great potential for our floating offshore wind technology, and we are looking for new opportunities.”
Statoil and Masdar are aiming to reduce the cost of energy from the Hywind floating wind farm to 40-60 euros per MWh by 2030, making it cost-competitive with other renewable energy sources.