World’s First Floating Wind Farm to Undergo First Major Maintenance Campaign, Turbines to Be Towed to Norwegian Port

January 15, 2024, by Adrijana Buljan

The world’s first commercial-scale floating wind farm, the 30 MW Hywind Scotland, officially entered the operations and maintenance (O&M) phase in October 2017. After a little over six years of operation, the wind farm’s Siemens Gamesa wind turbines are now due for some major maintenance work.

While offshore wind farms undergo turbine maintenance work more than once during their lifespans and tasks such as major component exchange are nothing uncommon, this is the first time a campaign of this kind will be done on a floating farm.

“From operational data, we have identified the need for heavy maintenance on the wind farm turbines. This is the first such operation for a floating farm and the safest method to do this is to tow the turbines to shore and execute the operations in sheltered conditions,” an Equinor spokesperson said in a statement emailed to offshoreWIND.biz.

The maintenance will be performed during the Summer in the Gulen Port in Norway as Equinor has awarded the contract for the onshore works to the Wergeland Group, which is expected to finish the campaign in three to four months after the start.

“Wergeland is the closest port with offshore wind experience and sufficient water depth that can service these turbines. The work will be done in close collaboration with the turbine supplier Siemens Gamesa,” Equinor’s spokesperson said.

Hywind Scotland, located 25 kilometres offshore Peterhead in Aberdeenshire, comprises five Siemens Gamesa 6 MW turbines mounted on SPAR-type foundations.

The floating wind farm has been operating with high capacity factors since the commissioning. In 2021, Equinor reported that Hywind Scotland had reached the highest average capacity factor for any wind farm in the UK for its third consecutive year.

In 2022, as the 30 MW floating wind farm celebrated five years of operation, Equinor said Hywind Scotland was the world’s best-performing offshore wind farm as it achieved a capacity factor of 54 per cent over its five years of operations.