The first MHI Vestas 8.4MW wind turbine at the 269MW Deutsche Bucht offshore wind farm has been commissioned and is delivering power to the German grid, Northland Deutsche Bucht GmbH said.
“This is a great achievement for our Deutsche Bucht project,” said Jens Poulsen , Project Director of Northland Deutsche Bucht GmbH.
“The rapid progress on installation and commissioning was made possible by the dedication of our team, combined with excellent cooperation by all partners, especially the grid operator and the BSH licensing authority.”
Installation of the 33 turbines began at the site some 95 kilometres northwest of the Borkum Island in June and 21 of the turbines have so far been installed by the turbine manufacturer, MHI Vestas Offshore Wind.
The turbines will be installed on 31 monopile foundations and two mono bucket foundations.
The final fabrication on the two mono bucket foundations is currently ongoing at Bladt Industries facilities at Lindoe, Denmark. Installation and cabling for the two mono bucket foundations and their turbines is planned for the fourth quarter. All 33 turbines are expected to be operational by the end of 2019, as per schedule.
“Northland prides itself on delivering projects on time and on budget. Achieving these goals is a significant accomplishment and a testament to our Deutsche Bucht project team and its partners,” said Mike Crawley, President and CEO of Northland.
“We look forward to adding 269 MW to our existing portfolio of offshore wind capacity in Germany and are proud to support the German government in their efforts to create a more sustainable future through the continued transition to cleaner and greener energy.”
Over the past few weeks, the installation and testing campaign for over 40 kilometres of internal cable was completed . The offshore substation of the wind farm was also handed over to Northland by the Balance of Plant contractor Van Oord. The offshore substation had already been connected to the offshore converter station BorWin beta of grid operator TenneT, enabling the turbines to produce power.
TenneT made a partial grid supply possible by connecting the first of the two 155-kilovolt export cables. A complete connection to the German high-voltage grid will occur later this year.